Exempting the essential services- like hospitals, pharmacies, airports, and metro rail etc, on call of 10 central trade unions, over 25 crore workers across India adopted the path of strike to raise their voice and grievances against the adamant attitude of the central government on 9th July, as claimed by the union leaders. This nationwide strike impacted banking, insurance, transport, and more services.
The Country witnessed a sweeping nationwide strike on Wednesday as lakhs of workers, farmers, and trade union members gathered and organized rallies against the central government’s economic and labour policies, terming them anti-worker and pro-corporate.
The trade unions in a joint press release claimed that more than 25 crores participated in the Strike action/Rasta Roko/Rail Roko all over the country in the formal and informal sectors, in Government, Public sector enterprises, and industrial areas. There were very large mobilisations in rural India and also at block-sub-division levels by informal sector workers, agricultural labour and farmers and other sections of common people. Participation of students and youth was quite visible in many states. The ranks and file of Samyukta Kisan Morcha and joint front of Agricultural Labour Unions played a significant role in the mobilisation in rural India.
The protest stresses on the 17-point demand charter, submitted last year to Union Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya. The trade unions claim that the government has failed to engage with their concerns and instead rushed through reforms that strip away labour protections, encourage privatisation, and intensify job insecurity.
Banking, Power, Transport, Railways and Education sectors have taken a hit across the country with their operations staying temporarily non-functional. Farmers have also joined the bandh.
Bhartiya Kisan Union Ekta Dakounda, Punjab Unit, supporting Bharat Bandh and strike call joined the gatherings of workers and employees in 14 districts.
Giving information to the press in this regard, the state president of the organization, Manjit Singh Dhaner, senior vice president Gurdeep Singh Rampura and general secretary Harnek Singh Mahima said that 25 crore workers and employees from all over the country raised their voice against the central government's privatization policies, changing labour laws to implement four labour codes and increasing the daily working hours of the workers from eight to 12 hours by going on strike.
Why the strike?
This strike step follows long negotiations and failed talks between unions and government representatives related to Workers’ demands of withdrawal of new labour codes, job security, and better wages. To amplify the strike pace some Farmers’ organizations have also extended support. It is stated that this is the 22nd General Strike since the advent of neo-liberal policies in India in 1991.
The main demands include repeal of 4 labour codes, stop privatisation of the PSU’s and public services, end contractualization and casualization of employment and minimum wage of Rs.26000/month.
The major hammer hovering over the working class are the four Labour codes legalising contract labour based on hire and fire policy. The trade unions fear that once implemented, that will shatter not only the rights of the existing workforce but the entire new generations of workers in all sectors of the economy. The youth cannot dream of having access to formal employment with social security and retirement benefits. The right to 8 hours work will not sustain and new forms of slavery will be imposed on the working people under the guise of ease of doing business to facilitate corporate profiteering. Workers will lose the right to unionise, right to bargain for remunerative wage and right to strike. The 4 labour codes are most authoritarian and undemocratic in character and will eventually endanger the independence of the working people and sovereignty of the country. Hence it is vital for all the freedom loving citizens to join the fight to bury the labour codes once and forever.
The trade unions consider these labour codes as negation of the labour rights won over after the struggle of 150 years from British Raj onwards.
“These codes negate our right to strike, make union registration problematic, de-recognition of unions easy, the process of conciliation and adjudication cumbersome, winding up labour courts and introducing tribunal for workers, overriding power to registrars to de-register unions, definition of wage being changed and the schedule of occupations for minimum wages applicability being abolished, Occupational Safety and Health and Working Conditions code designed to put the right of safety of every worker and also rights and entitlements of workers in workplace in total jeopardy, the inspections exclusive putting the right of safety of every worker made in jeopardy, the inspections have been done away with and facilitators to facilitate employers is being brought, change in industrial code and its rule for increasing applicability-threshold from 100 to 300 would push out 70 percent of industries out of the coverage of labour laws, the changes in factory act also would throw out substantial number of workforce from its coverage, giving the employers class wide discretionary powers to repress and exploit”, divulging the effects of Labour codes in a press release at the closing time of the strike, trade unions claimed.
Why did the farmers’ unions support the strike?
Samyukta Kisan Morch (SKM) also supported the general strike and declared to rally in protest demonstrations at tehsil level across India independently as well as in coordination with the trade unions and agricultural workers unions. SKM states that these are critical policy requirements decisive to resist the corporatisation of the Indian economy and to protect the independence of India.
Farmers’ umbrella union, SKM warns that the General Strike is also against the imposition of free trade agreements on Indian people. US Imperialism has unleashed all efforts to coerce the Modi Government to impose unfair trade terms and to dump US agricultural products in India. The intention of the free trade agreement is unregulated freedom for US food chains, trading giants and agribusiness corporations to operate in India. Tariff free Import of huge quantity of highly subsidised milk and milk products, soybean, cotton, mice, wheat, rice, pulses, oilseeds, paddy, GM crops, fruits and vegetables including apple and walnuts, processed and canned foods into Indian markets will devastate the income and livelihood of Indian peasantry.
SKM alleges that the Trump Administration has been compelling the Modi Government to wind up PDS food distribution and withdraw all subsidies for farmers on fuel and fertilisers. It wants India to change its patent laws to suit American companies.
What irked the trade unions?
Noticing the dismissive and unresponsive approach of the central government, the Joint Platform of Central Trade Unions and Independent Sectoral Federations/Associations, while deciding the national strike, agreed to raise their voice unitedly and resolved, “Working hours are being unilaterally increased; statutory minimum wages and social security benefits are being flouted. Workers, particularly contract workers, are being retrenched with impunity. These are nothing but heinous attempts to implement notorious Labour Codes through backdoors. At the same time despite repeated persuasion by trade unions, the Govt did not bother to meet and consult the Central Trade Unions or to hold Indian labour conferences, despite receiving notices for strike from all corners of the country across the sectors.”
Now the trade unions have warned the government, “This is the beginning of the prolonged battle in the days to follow in the sectoral levels focussed on determined united resistance, again to culminate into a bigger national level heightened united action.”
However, the reports coming here state that the strike movement was organized peacefully by the participants, but the Communist Party of India (Marxist) alleges lathi charge at some places by the police forces.
In a statement released Wednesday, the Polit Bureau of CPIM contends, “Reports show that the police resorted to lathi charge in various places and attempts were made to intimidate workers from participating in the general strike. Braving all such attacks, the strike was held successfully. Kisan, agricultural workers and various sections of the people too joined the workers in solidarity and held protest demonstrations.”
The CPI(M) congratulated all the people who stood with the working class and made this general strike a huge success. The left party demanded that the BJP led central government should listen to the voices against the labour codes and its anti-worker policies. It should immediately rescind the amendments to the labour laws and protect the rights of the working class.
(By Jag Mohan Thaken)