Nationwide strike partially hits banking, transport services in some states

Banking and transport services were partially affected in a few states on Tuesday as various central trade unions went on a nationwide strike for the second consecutive day to protest against policies of the central government.

The two-day strike was called by a central trade unions' joint forum, which on Tuesday claimed that the strike elicited good response by way of mobilisation of workers.

Various unions of bank employees also participated in the strike.

Bank unions protested against the government's move to privatise two public sector banks as announced in Budget 2021-22. They also demanded an increase in interest rate on deposits and reduction in service charges.

According to reports, normal life was partially affected in Kerala, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.

"Workers in Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh joined the strike on the second day... workers in almost all sectors joined the strike," Amarjeet Kaur, General Secretary of All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), told PTI.

In a statement, the joint forum lauded the workers of organised and unorganised sectors, government departments, public sector and private establishments, medium, small and micro enterprises as well as rural and urban working people, for making a "grand success of this two-day general strike".

"The participation crossed 20 crore (people) facing all odds, ESMA, intimidation, and obstructions of all kinds, including the high handedness of police in some cases and High Court order in Kerala prohibiting strike for BPCL and government employees," the statement said.

Road transport workers in Haryana began their strike by picketing at depots from Monday onwards.

The issue of strike also echoed in both the Houses of Parliament on Tuesday. In Rajya Sabha, opposition members raised issues related to the nationwide strike and urged the government to look into their demands and take steps.

During Zero Hour, Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu did not accept the notices by some opposition members to discuss the 12-point charter of trade unions, who called for the two-day nationwide strike.

However, Naidu permitted three members to briefly mention the matter related to the nationwide strike.

In Lok Sabha, Opposition members declared support for the strike call and sought a discussion on the issue.

The strike was to protest against the government's policies affecting workers, farmers, and people.

Their demands included scrapping of Labour Codes, no privatisation in any form, scrapping of National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP), increased allocation of wages under MNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act) and regularisation of contract workers.

The central trade unions that are part of this joint forum are INTUC, AITUC, HMS, CITU, AIUTUC, TUCC, SEWA, AICCTU, LPF and UTUC.