In pursuance of the declaration adopted by trade unions INTUC, AITUC, HMS, CITU, AIUTUC, TUCC, SEWA, AICCTU, LPF, UTUC in September last year, they declared a nation-wide stroke on January 08, 2020. It was expected that around 25 crore people will join the strike in different parts of the country. The main reason behind a step as severe as a nation-wide strike was to express dissatisfaction towards what are alleged to be ‘anti-people’ policies by the ruling party led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The participation in the strike was earlier limited to ten major central trade unions [CTUs] of the country but later spread across involving many sectoral independent federations and associations. In a joint statement issued by the 10 CTUs, they have said that the participation expected was ‘not less than 25 crore’ working people. It also states that it is against the anti-worker, anti-people, anti-national policies of the Government. It also hinted towards the failure of the Ministry of Labour to assure the demands of the working class on the meeting held on January 02, 2020. They have expressed fear that the government holds a contemptuous attitude through its policies and actions, as gathered.
Support to the All India Strike:
The All-India strike was supported by around a total of sixty student unions and organizations, along with elected office bearers of the universities. They are joining the strike to raise their voice against the increasing fee structure and the trend of commercialization of the education sector. The strike has intensified after the recent attack on the students and teachers of the Jawaharlal Nehru University [JNU] by masked goons, who managed to get away unidentified despite the presence of security forces and police personnel. The trade unions and university campuses across the country have taken the streets in solidarity with the students and teachers of JNU. Banks, Farmers and other sectors who are the victim of the failing economy have joined the All India Strike against the policies of the Modi government. Since the Bhartiya Janta Party [BJP] came into power in 2014, there has been a wave of privatization. A total of 12 airports have been privatized and the 100 percent sale of Air India is in the pipeline, to be sold to BPCL. BSNL-MTNL merger is another example, where a merger has been announced resulting in stripping as many as 93,600 telecom workers of their job under the garb of the voluntary retirement scheme [VRS]. Apart from the privatization in railways, there is also displeasure towards the corporatization of 49 defense production units and forced merger of banks.
The effects of Bharat Bandh can be seen in different sectors. It has been apprehended that in the banking and financial services sector, more than ₹22,000 crores of bank transactions including cheque and cash transactions will face a setback. This is because the all India strike has been supported by 10 unions from banking and insurance sectors and around 500,000 bank officials are on strike claimed their unions. The regions where these banking transactions will be majorly affected are Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat, Karnataka, and Kerala. The effect can also be seen in the working of the ATMs and the cash deposit machines. It is reported by Live Mint that in the Clearing Grids, about 28 lac cheques worth about Rs. 21,500 crores could not be cleared due to the strike. This was revealed by C.H. Venkatachalam, the General Secretary of All India Bank Employees Association [AIBEA]
What are the demands?
The Central Trade Unions [CTUs] have a 12 point charter of demands presenting before the government. The demands include a minimum wage of Rs. 21,000 per month, better job creation, the rollback of policies on contractualisation of the workforce, tripartite discussion on labor reform, no to the privatization of profit-making public sector enterprises and the universal pension system. The CTUs also claim that over a 200 million workers from both formal and informal sectors will participate in the nationwide strike throughout the Day.
Government Reaction
The Central Government has issued an order directing its employees to not participate in the called strike giving the reason that their service conditions do not allow them to go on strike. The strike has also been rejected in West Bengal, by the ruling party- Trinamool Congress chief and chief minister Mamata Banerjee. In Bangaluru, the advisory by the administration has requested the people not to disturb public life in place of the strike.