The evolution of trade unionism

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The trade union movement in India has changed in recent years. Earlier, Left-affiliated trade unions were more active in calling strikes against the government's actions. For the first time in 2009, all the central trade unions came on a common platform to decide the course of action on their charter of demands jointly. Since then, three strikes have taken place - one each in 2010, 2012 and 2013. The strike in February 2013 was a two-day strike and trade unions claim a record 120 million workers had participated in it. The September 2 strike called by the trade unions are mainly to protest against the changes in the labour laws by the NDA government and 100 million workers are likely to join the strike from all sectors - banking, insurance, transport, manufacturing and postal services being a few.