Tuesday, August 16 2005 17:56 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kolkata: The major Left trade unions today (August 16, 2005) came down heavily on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's statement that workers had a responsibility to co-operate with the management to ensure profitiability of enterprises and said his observation was "one-sided" and was "not acceptable".

" We don't need his advice. Prime Minister has not said a word in his speech about the retrenchments, downsizing and other anti-labour policies of the management. His statement is one-sided and is not acceptable to us", M K Pandhe, President of CITU, the CPI(M)'s labour body, told PTI on the sidelines of an all-India convention of public sector trade unions.

Pandhe, who is also a veteran CPI(M) Politburo member referred to the recent industrial unrest in Gurgaon and said that the attack on workers was launched by the police.

"The Prime Minister completely ignored this fact and he had no word on the police atrocities on the struggling workers at Gurgaon", the CITU president said.

"It is all bogus. There is no social security net for the workers", Pandhe said referring to Prime Minister's remark yesterday.

Advising workers to play a responsible role, Singh during his Independence day address to the nation said the government would provide a social security net to help them during times of distress.

The CPI leader and general secretary of AITUC Gurudas Dasgupta told PTI Prime Minister's statement was "unfortunate" and would give indulgences to the corporates to pursue more and more anti-labour actions.