Mar 27, 2022 07:49 pm
Joint forum of trade unions along with support by the banks has declared a ‘nation wide strike‘ on 28th & 29th Mar. This is largely to protest against the government policies affecting workers, farmers, and people in general.
After a meeting of the joint platform of central trade unions on 22 March a call for a nationwide strike was taken. After evaluating the feasibility across various states, the unions announced a two-day all-India strike against "the anti-worker, anti-farmer, anti-people and anti-national policies" of the central government.
Roadways, transport workers and electricity workers have decided to join the strike in spite of the impending threat of ESMA (Haryana and Chandigarh, respectively).
These trade unions which include INTUC, AITUC, HMS, CITU, AIUTUC, TUCC, SEWA, AICCTU, LPF and UTUC.
"We are expecting participation of over 20 crore formal and informal workers with mass mobilisation of workers across the country during the strike on March 28 and 29 to protest against government policies“, said All Indian Trade Union Congress General Secretary Amarjeet Kaur.
She said that the strike is expected to hit the rural parts also, where informal workers of farming and other sectors will join the protest.
The unions' demands include scrapping of the proposed changes in labour laws, privatisation of any form and the national monetisation pipeline. Increased allocation of wages under MNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act) and regularisation of contract workers are also part of their demands.
The power ministry on Sunday advised all the state-run utilities and other agencies to be on high alert and ensure round-the-clock electricity supply and stability of the national grid.
"The Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) have called for a nationwide strike with effect from 06:00 hrs of March 28 to 06:00 hrs of March 30, 2022," an advisory issued by the power ministry said.
All India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA) General Secretary C H Venkatachalam said the union demands the government to stop privatisation of public sector banks and strengthen them. Bank employees also demand speedy recovey of bad loans, higher deposit rates by banks, lower service charges on customers as well as restoration of old pension scheme for staff.
A number of public sector banks, including country's largest lender SBI, have said that their services may get impacted to a limited extent due to the strike.
The strike notices were given by workers' unions of various sectors such as coal, steel, oil, telecom, postal, income tax, copper, banks and insurance.