10 trade unions to go on strike from tomorrow

Railways exempt but other transport sectors, banks, insurance, post and industrial sectors to be hit

Ten central trade unions said on Monday their nationwide one-day’s strike on Wednesday would be the biggest ever in the country, despite the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-supported Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) breaking ranks with them. “All sectors of the economy will be affected, except railways (which the unions have exempted). This is a protest strike against anti-worker economic policies of the government… The impact (of BMS backing out) will be marginal,” said Gurudas Dasgupta, general secretary of the All India Trade Union Congress, at a press conference organised by the 10 unions here. Participation, he said, would be in lakhs.” BMS claims to be second highest union in the country, with a membership of 17.1 million.

The unions said coal, power, cement, textiles, oil, aviation, banks, insurance and the post office will be widely affected. Tapan Sen, general secretary of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions, said the transport sector in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Punjab would be “completely closed.” Dasgupta slammed BMS for not participating. He said the unions had initially decided to call a strike in July but had to defer it to September, as BMS had said it wouldn’t participate in any strike in the first year of the National Democratic Alliance government. “To accommodate that, we postponed to September 2. It is unfortunate they backed out. They were of the view that the government’s proposals were positive; our reaction is negative,” he added.

The 10 participating unions also issued a point-to-point reply to the government’s proposals. A group of central ministers, headed by Arun Jaitley (finance), held meetings with the unions to get them to withdraw.

Only BMS eventually did, saying the government’s proposals were “positive.”

“The government did not offer any tangible solution to (our) demands,” went a statement issued by the 10  unions. It appealed to BMS to not oppose the strike. The government has proposed a new formula to calculate the minimum wages for workers, assured a minimum level of pay for contract workers and proposed to double the bonus ceiling and the eligibility salary limit.

Dasgupta said the government should discuss the proposed changes to labour laws only with the unions and not include business representatives in the forum for this purpose. “It should be bipartite. Industry has no role in labour laws. Government doesn’t discuss taxation with us. The government never said our demands will be accepted. They never said there will be a consensus,” he said. The unions said they expected the government, after the strike, “to take a lesson and come forward for discussion”.

The unions had called a two-day strike in February 2013 and then claimed 100 million workers had participated.