Govt policies: One-day labour strike today

Around half of country’s workforce from both public and private sectors is likely to take part in the one-day, country-wide general strike on Thursday, organised by ten central trade unions, against government’s alleged “anti-people, anti-worker, anti-national and destructive” policies. Largest trade union, Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), is not taking part in the strike.

“Around 25 crore belonging to both public and private sectors, bank and insurance sectors, unorgansied sectors, scheme workers are likely to take part in the strike. The impact will be huge,” said CITU’s president K Hemalatha.

The impact of the strike will not be confined to rural areas alone; it will be felt in rural areas as well since peasants are also joining the strike. The strike is against the government’s “anti-national’ policies taken in the name of reforming the labour and the agriculture sectors, she said.

“With these policies, the government is not taking the country to become ‘atmanirbhar’; these steps are actually telling upon the country’s self-reliance,” Hemalatha said. The All India Bank Employees’ Association (AIBEA) would be joining the strike, it said in a statement. Apart from CITU; NTUC, AITUC, HMS, AIUTUC, TUCC, SEWA, AICCTU, LPF and UTUC have jointly given the strike call.

BMS rejected an invitation from All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) to take part in the strike saying, “Though we agree that some of the initiatives of the government are not in tune with our demands, but referring the government as anti-national seems ridiculous and unreasonable. The issues raised by you need further briefing and deliberations.”