10 key trade unions seek a face-to-face meeting instead of boycotting the virtual pre-budget exercise with Nirmala Sitharaman.

The forum jointly objected to a restricted video conference for pre-budget talks in a letter sent to the finance minister earlier on Friday.

The pre-budget consultation with finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman will not be held in person on November 28 due to a united decision made by 10 key trade unions, who also demanded a physical meeting with adequate speaking time. Pre-budget consultation is an annual event when representatives from many industries share ideas and make requests that will be addressed in the Budget.
The forum noted in a statement sent out on Friday: “Now that your email from November 25, 2022 is cited, it is clear that each central trade union will be given three minutes to speak. We reject taking part in such a crude prank, and this is a comedy. On November 28, 2022, we will not take part in the planned video conference.”
The forum jointly objected to a restricted video conference for pre-budget talks in a letter sent to the finance minister earlier on Friday.
“Despite the total relaxing of Covid limitations, we are forced to register our dissatisfaction with the decision to organise this meeting in virtual mode for just 75 minutes in order to conduct consultations with at least 12 key trade unions, if not more, as stated in the invitation letter. There are 12 major trade unions in our nation, according to a physical inspection by the labour ministry. If the time for traditional introductory statements is taken into consideration, that translates to less than five minutes or even less for each organisation “they had said on the forum.
Later that day, the finance ministry sent the forum another letter explaining that each central trade union taking part will have three minutes to provide their views.
The forum responded to the letter by sending another letter on Friday, noting that the CTUs had chosen to boycott the intended video conference as a result.
The forum advised the finance minister to “seriously contemplate convening of a physical meeting with reasonable time-allocation for productive consultations in the pre-budget meeting with the trade unions” as well.
The finance minister was also invited to the conference for an open discussion about these policies without any time constraints on her to justify the ones she was pursuing.
Ten trade unions, including INTUC, AITUC, TUCC, SEWA, HMS, CITU, AICCTU, LPF, AIUTUC, and UTUC, make up the forum.
In the nation, there are roughly a dozen central trade unions, including Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS). The joint forum does not include the BMS.