Govt fails to douse fire, 2-day trade union strike from Wed

Trade unions on Monday decided to go ahead with their two-day all-India strike on February 20 and 21, i.e Wednesday and Thursday after  a meeting between senior Cabinet ministers and representatives of these bodies failed to yield a result.

All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) Secretary D L Sachdev told Business Standard after the meeting the ministers could not give any concrete assurance. “The strike stands," he added.

In an attempt to persuade a combined front of trade unions against going ahead with their decision of an all-India general strike on February 20-21, the central government had called the meeting with their representatives at 8 pm on Monday. They were to meet four senior ministers but Sachdev said that Finance Minister P Chidambaram was not present.

The strike has been called by all the trade unions against the government’s economic policies, saying these have led to price rise, disinvestment and contract employment in government and public sector companies. There are also other labour-related issues.

Last evening, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had asked senior cabinet colleagues A K Antony, Sharad Pawar, P Chidambaram and Mallikarjun Kharge to together hold discussions with union leaders.

The latter said before the meeting that they’d listen to what the government had to say, though it came on the eve of the proposed strike.

The strike has been called jointly by AITUC, the Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh, Indian National Trade Union Congress,  Hind Mazdoor Sabha, Centre of Indian Trade Unions, All India United Trade Union Centre and some others.

The Prime Minister appealed last evening to the unions to call it off. “Such a strike would lead to avoidable loss to our economy and inconvenience to the public through disruption of services,” he said.

Some of the issues raised were already being acted on, he said, and others were at various stages of consideration. Saying he’d asked his senior colleagues to discuss these with the TU leaders, he said he was optimistic that the discussions would result in a course of action acceptable to both sides.

Mamata says no strike in Bengal
The general strike will not affect West Bengal, according to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. “There will be no bandh and everything will remain open in West Bengal. We will ensure that life remains normal as on any other day and work does not suffer,” said Banerjee at a foundation-laying ceremony for development projects in South 24 Parganas district.

She encouraged shopkeepers to keep their shops open, saying that her government would compensate for any damage due to the strike.