observed with grave concern that layoff of casual staff had reached new heights in the wake of the workers' struggle for better service conditions. The 30-point draft charter of demands adopted at the conference is unexceptionable, but so long as permanent railway workers remain passive towards the Just demands of casual employees the railway authorities will not have much difficulty in continuing their existing practices. The conference at Calcutta made a beginning in organising the scattered movements of casual labour all over the country, but whether the AIRF will pursue the cause of casual labour with tenacity remains to be seen.
