The transport, banking and industrial sectors are likely to be affected on September 2 with 10 central trade unions (CTUs), barring the RSS-affiliated Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), on Friday announcing their plan to go ahead with a one-day strike to protest against the government’s alleged anti-worker, anti-people policies.
In a joint declaration, the CTUs expressed their dismay over the government changing the labour laws to “throw even the overwhelming majority of the organised sector workers out of the coverage and purview of all basic labour laws and appeal to all working class people, irrespective of their affiliations, to join in the strike”.
“Such a retrograde move of the Centre and the states, aimed at imposing slavery on the working people, has to be combated resolutely by the united movement of the workers,” it said. The 10 CTUs have a combined membership of 6 crore.
AITUC general secretary D L Sachdeva claimed that transportation would be the most affected on September 2. Impacts could also be seen in banking, insurance and others sectors of the economy.
Central government employees would also join the stir.
Last year, also on September 2, trade unions gave a strike call, but sans the participation of the BMS, which pulled out at the last moment; the strike only had negligible impact.
Sachdeva, however, said this time, the strike will have a major impact since workers are frustrated with the government’s policies and so the response would be overwhelming.
CTUs said their 12-point charter of demands, including minimum wages and universal social security, were not met, and the group of ministers headed by finance minister Arun Jaitley appointed to address the issues has not convened a single meeting since last year.
“It is only talking to the BMS, which has not joined the strike call. We condemn the move of the government to divide the workers in the face of the ongoing strike campaign,” it said.