Jaitley attacks trade unions inspired by Left

Attacking the Leftist ideology, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday attacked trade unions that borrow from the philosophy, designating them obsolete and unacceptable. He said the time had come to push for economic growth and benefits accrued from a growing economy need to be shared with workers.

Attacking the Leftist ideology, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday attacked trade unions that borrow from the philosophy, designating them obsolete and unacceptable. He said the time had come to push for economic growth and benefits accrued from a growing economy need to be shared with workers.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley addresses a felicitation function organised by Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) in New Delhi. (PTI Photo)

Pitching for growth and development, Jaitley said the government is committed to continuing dialogue with workers’ unions as it supports the idea of increasing minimum wages.

“India needs to grow by an additional 1-1.5% so that it can sustain wage hike and other benefits being given to workers and the poor,” Jaitley said in an address at the felicitation function organised by the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS). He added that initiatives like One Rank One Pay (OROP) and Wage Board revision, which will lead to an additional burden of `1.02 lakh crore to the government expense, emphasise the need to increase the growth rate.

“Our GDP growth of 7.5% is at a time when the world is experiencing global slowdown. We need to increase our growth rate,” he said.