India will see a widespread strike on January 8 and 9 by millions of workers who are going on a strike against the Narendra Modi government and their alleged anti-worker policies and for unilateral labour reforms.
 
Up to 10 central trade unions, comprising around 150 million or about 20 crore employees of banks, public transport units, factories, and government companies, are protesting what they describe as the “anti-labour” policies of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government. Their complaints include a painful lack of job growth—the opposite of what Modi promised when he came to power—and rising prices, besides the mergers of struggling state-run firms.
 
“The strike is quite visible in Assam, Meghalaya, Karnataka, Manipur Bihar, Rajasthan, Goa, Punjab, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Haryana — particularly in the targeted industrial areas and different mines,” Amarjeet Kaur, General Secretary of All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), told PTI.
 
This is the largest number of workers from formal and informal sectors joining a strike against anti-people and anti-worker policies of the BJP-led central government, she stated.

 
The labour unions’ demands include withdrawal of “anti-labour” changes in laws, immediate steps to control unemployment, minimum wages for all labourers, social security benefits such as employees provident fund to all labourers, Rs 6,000 monthly pension to farmers, farm labourers and labourers in unorganised sectors, status of government employees to scheme workers, equal work and equal pay and putting a stop to employing labourers on contract for continuous works for 12 months.
 
Public sector bank workers were on strike just a few weeks ago, in December 2018, pushing back against the government’s decision to merge Dena Bank with Vijaya Bank and Bank of Baroda. Farmers have also joined them in their protest.
 
The strike, which began at midnight, is supported by the All India Kisan Sabha, Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Manch, Bhumi Adhikar Andolan, and several other government organisations.
 
The strike is expected to affect traffic and banking operations in several parts of the country, particularly in Left-dominated West Bengal and Kerala.

 
Across India, public transport has been disrupted, most state-run banks are closed, and schools and colleges are also shut. Here’s how the strike is playing out in various states as reported by Quartz:
 
West Bengal
A day before the strike, chief minister Mamata Banerjee said the state would not be supporting the bandh. A government notification reportedly barred employees from taking leave on Jan 8 or 9, the days of the strike. Additional buses were scheduled to ply on the roads and extra police forces have reportedly been deployed to prevent any violence.
 
On the morning of Jan 8, though, protesters blocked the main railway line at Howrah in Kolkata, and the police detained several members of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM). Clashes between members of the CPM and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) were reported from the district of Asansol.
 
Odisha
Schools and colleges are closed in the eastern state, whose Biju Janata Dal-led government is supporting the strike. Protesters have obstructed the movement of traffic in the state capital of Bhubaneswar.
 
The Auto Taxi Union, Delhi, is one of the unions that has joined the transport strike, demanding better wages, among other things. Members of the All India Central Council of Trade Unions also held a protest in the Patparganj industrial area against privatisation in the public sector.
 
Maharashtra
Over 33,000 employees of the state’s transport operator BEST have launched an indefinite strike in Mumbai, demanding a renewal of expired salary agreements and improved bonuses, among other things. With buses off the roads, the strike is expected to affect 2.5 million commuters. The national strike is also likely to hit the services of government offices and post offices in the state.
 
Employees of Maharashtra’s power distribution company, MSEDCL, are also going on strike against privatisation, though arrangements have reportedly been made to ensure that power generation and transmission aren’t affected.
 
Karnataka
Nearly all state-run institutions are shut and many schools are to be closed on Jan 8 and 9, with some colleges even postponing examinations on account of the strike. The state transport services, KSRTC and BMTC, as well as most autos, are participating in the strike, though the metro is scheduled to run as normal in Bengaluru and Ola and Uber cabs are available. At least one incident of vandalism has been reported so far, with a bus reportedly being pelted with stones in Bengaluru.
 
Kerala
On the morning of Jan 8, protesters blocked trains at the Thiruvananthapuram Central station, prompting several delays. State-run buses are reportedly facing an acute staff shortage as a result of the strikes, and private buses, taxis, and auto rickshaws are also off the roads, leaving many commuters stranded. Schools and colleges have said they will be closed on Jan 8 and 9.
 
Get live updates here: https://scroll.in/latest/908593/two-day-bharat-bandh-begins-central-trade-unions-protest-centres-anti-people-policies
 

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India’s central trade unions have decided to go on a countrywide indefinite strike. A three-day dharna of lakhs of workers is planned for 9, 10 and 11 November at Parliament Street, which is to be followed by the indefinite General Strike against the anti-labour policies of the NDA government.

The decision was announced today at the National Convention of Workers at Talkatora Stadium, New Delhi. The convention was organised by the joint platform of all the central trade unions – CITU, AITUC, INTUC, HMS, AIUTUC, TUCC, SEWA, AICCTU, UTUC and LPF, and the National Federations of State and Central Government employees and the employees in a wide range of sectors such as banking, telecom, coal, steel, transport and construction.

The declaration adopted at the Convention expressed dismay that the government has been completely ignoring the 12 point Charter of Demands put forward by the trade unions. The demands include those concerning minimum wages, social security, workers’ status, pay and facilities for scheme workers, and the roll-back of privatisation and mass-scale contractorisation. Numerous strike actions with the participation of crores of workers have been organised in the recent years on many of these issues. But “the ruling regime at the centre has been increasing onslaught on the rights and livelihood of the working people of the country”, said the declaration.

The Convention noted the worsening of the problem of unemployment in the country as employment generation has turned negative even in the most labour-intensive sectors. The anti-worker labour law reforms and the latest move to dismantle the existing statutory Social Security infrastructure were vehemently criticised.

The trade unions slammed the accelerated moves by the central government to privatise strategic Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) including those engaged in defence production, public sector banks, insurance, railways, oil, power and public road transport.
In a significant call for worker-peasant unity, the Convention expressed solidarity with the farmers in India who have been on an agitational path all across the country.

The Convention denounced the growing trend of communal and divisive machinations being spread in society with the active patronage of the government machinery.

The unions have decided to organise massive campaigns, mobilisations and conventions at the levels of blocks, districts, industrial centres and States in preparation for the mobilisation in Delhi in November.

Leaders of the central trade unions such as Tapan Sen (CITU), Amarjeet Kaur (AITUC), G Sanjeeva Reddy (INTUC) and Harbhajan Singh Siddu (HMS) addressed the Convention. Those who presided over the convention included Dr K Hemalata of CITU, Ramendra Kumar of AITUC, Ashok Singh of INTUC and Harbhajan Singh Siddu of HMS.

Courtesy: Newsclick.in

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