Nearly 20 crore workers of the Central Trade Unions (CTUs) will go on a 2-day nationwide strike from Tuesday, the Union said, adding the strike will be in protest against the anti-worker policies and unilateral labour reforms of the government.
"As many as 10 Central Trade Unions (CTUs) have joined hands to go on a 2-day nationwide strike from tomorrow. We expect 20 crore workers to join the strike,” said Amarjeet Kaur, General Secretary of AITUC.
"This is the largest number of workers from formal and informal sectors joining the strike against anti-people and anti-worker policies of the BJP-led central government," she said while addressing a joint press conference of the 10 CTUs in Delhi.
Sectors like telecom, health, education, coal, steel, electricity, banking, insurance and transport among others are likely to support the strike, she said.
"We will go on protest march from Mandi House to Parliament in New Delhi on Wednesday. Similar protests would be done across the country," she said.
Kaur further said, "We have given suggestions on labour codes. But during discussion...trade unions' demands were rejected. We went on strike on September 2, 2016. We also did 3-day 'Mahapadav' (agitation) from November 9-11 in 2017. But the government did not come for dialogue rather went ahead with unilateral labour reforms.”
The 10 CTUs going on strike include INTUC, AITUC, HMS, CITU, AIUTUC, TUCC, SEWA, AICCTU, LPF and UTUC. The strike will however not witness the participation of RSS affiliate Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS).
"The government has failed to create jobs and grossly ignored unions' 12-point charter of demands. The Group of Ministers headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on labour issues has not called unions for any discussion since September 2, 2015 strike. This has left us with no other option but to go on strike," Kaur said.
The government undermined tripartism and continued its "aggressive attack with arrogance on the lives and livelihood of the working people,” the CTU alleged in a joint statement.
Opposing the proposed amendments in Trade Union Act, 1926, they said those are irrational and extremely damaging to the independent functioning of unions.
The farming communities have also extended support to the strike through their decisions, the unions claimed.
According to the statement, student and teacher organisations of various universities have also declared their support.
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