PSU trade unions call off strike

Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, Labour Minister Satyanarain Jatiya and Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie also attended the meeting which was held at the Prime Minister’s residence.

Speaking to The Financial Express, Shourie said the meeting went off quite positively and everybody wanted to cooperate. The Prime Minister has agreed to meet union leaders once every six months, Shourie said.

"We have told the trade union leaders that they can meet Jatiya or me in case there is any doubt or misgiving regarding disinvestment," Shourie said.

The meeting was attended by AITUC, CITU and HMS which are the constituents of the CPSTU. BMS and INTUC leaders also participated at the meeting.

The government has tried to placate the trade union leaders because it wants to carry out disinvestment without ruffling too many feathers. The Opposition–including the Congress, which initiated the process–has been castigating the government for the lack of any comprehensive disinvestment policy.

Then there are opponents of privatisation in the Sangh Parivar, like the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch, that have been against, what they call, selling of the family silver. According to sources, it was because of their pressure that the Prime Minister removed Arun Jaitley from the disinvestment department, as he was trying to accelerate the process.

Worse still, there are people within the government who are averse to the idea of privatisation. Some senior cabinet members seem to be against the sale of PSUs.

In this context, the Prime Minister wants to avoid any confrontation on the issue of privatisation.