The one-day country-wide strike on Thursday called for a broad impact in various parts on the call of workers' organizations against the central government's economic and anti-labor policies. Due to this, electricity employees also demonstrated across the country against the privatization of different distribution companies. The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh associated with the RSS was not involved in the protest.
New Delhi: A day-long nationwide strike on Thursday called on various workers 'organizations against the economic and anti-labor policies of the BJP-led NDA government, apart from the farmers' Delhi Chalo March against three disputed agricultural bills, had a widespread impact in different parts of the country on Thursday Got to see,The 10 central labor organizations participating in the strike were Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS), Center of India Trade Unions (CITU), All India United Trade Union Center ( AIUTUC), Trade Union Co-ordination Center (TUCC), Self-Employed Women's Associations (Services), All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU), Labor Progressive Federation (LPF) and United Trade Union Congress (UTUC).AITUC general secretary Amarjit Kaur said, "Kerala and Tamil Nadu remained completely closed due to the strike. Similar conditions persisted in Odisha, Punjab, Haryana, Telangana and Goa. The strike also got good support in Maharashtra. He said that services in banks, LIC, GIC and Income Tax department can also be severely affected.
The workers 'organizations said in a joint statement,' Kerala, Puducherry, Odisha, Assam and Telangana remained completely closed during the strike. There was complete shutdown in 13 districts of Tamil Nadu, while industrial strike continued in other districts. In Punjab and Haryana, the buses of the State Transport Corporation were also jammed. 'According to the statement, there was a full strike in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, including BALCO. Normal life was affected in West Bengal and Tripura. Minor skirmishes have been reported in West Bengal.Hind Mazdoor Sabha general secretary Harbhajan Singh Sidhu said that about 25 crore workers are expected to be involved in Thursday's nationwide strike.
He said that this strike has also got support from defense, railways, coal workers and other private sector labor organizations.The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), has declared the strike to be politically motivated and to stay away from it.,The All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC), a joint forum of farmer organizations, also announced its support to this general strike.
The strike was called to protest against the new farmer and labor laws, including many policies of the central government. Organizations have also demanded a transfer of Rs 7500 to the account of unorganized sector workers, citing the corona epidemic.
Functioning in government banks partially affected
Public sector banking services across the country were partially affected by the involvement of some bank employees' organizations in a day-long strike of trade unions.
During this period, cash transactions including deposits at branches of several public sector banks were affected, while foreign exchange and government transactions were also affected.
However, functioning in State Bank of India and private sector banks remained normal.
Meanwhile, many banks including Bank of Maharashtra have informed their customers that they should use digital mediums like internet, mobile banking and ATM for banking related transactions and other services.
Bank employees belonging to All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA), National Confederation of Bank Employees (NCBE) and Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI) were supporting the strike.
The All India Bank Officers' Federation (AIBOC), an organization of bank officials, also supported the strike.
AIBEA general secretary CH Venkatachalam said the unions 'strike is against the government's anti-labor policy and bank employees are demonstrating against privatization. Power employees' performance against privatization of distribution companies
Power sector employees staged a nationwide protest on Thursday to protest against the government's decision to privatize the distribution companies. All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) gave this information.
Power workers are also demanding withdrawal of the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2020 and the cancellation of Standard Bidding Document (SBD). AIPEF spokesman VK Gupta said in a statement, "Millions of employees in the power sector, including engineers, protested on Thursday showed off. They protested against the withdrawal of the Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2020, the demand for the cancellation of SBD and the privatization of power distribution distribution companies. '
Gupta said that protest meetings were held in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Assam and other states and union territories.
He said that the engineers working in the electricity sector did not participate in the strike of the 10 central labor organizations and only protested in support of their demands.
Gupta claimed that the government is bent on creating a private monopoly with the sole purpose of helping corporate houses in the power sector.
The SBD document proposes privatization of distribution companies in all states and union territories.
AIPEF has demanded the withdrawal of the privatization process of the power sector in states and union territories and the cancellation of all existing privatizations and franchises.
He claimed that the Center is misleading people by saying that electricity will become cheaper after privatization.
Gupta said that private distribution companies have been allowed to take minimum 16 percent profit. This will increase electricity rates by about Rs 10 per unit for consumers.
According to AIPEF, the privatization of power distribution companies in Chandigarh has been opposed by the political parties along with the Residence Welfare Association. The Puducherry government is also against the privatization of the power sector.
Normal life in Bengal affected by trade union strike
Life was partially affected in some parts of West Bengal on Thursday due to a strike called by several trade unions in protest against the Centre's economic policies.The 24-hour bandh called by the Joint Committee of Central Labor Organizations started at six in the morning.An official said that activists of bandh supporters like CPI-M affiliated organizations like CITU and DYFI took out rallies in Kolkata, Jadhavpur, Garia, Kamalgaji, Lake Town and Dum Dum areas, disrupting vehicular movement. The bandh supporters asked the shopkeepers to keep their establishments closed.
He said the bandh supporters staged a protest outside the Howrah railway station, asking the drivers to stop services but a large contingent of police force was deployed to operate the vehicles normally.
Also read: Why there are opposing three laws brought in the name of labor reform
The official said the enforcers of the bandh also blocked roads in Cooch Behar and Jhargram districts, burning tires and breaking windows of buses.
He said that the railway tracks were also blocked by the agitators, which affected rail services in Sealdah South and main sections.
In Howrah, an activist of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) said that people are supporting our peaceful protest because it is in their interest.
The ruling Trinamool Congress in the state did not support the strike, but said that it is with the Left and Congress on economic issues.
Kerala remained almost closed
The one-day nationwide strike of various labor organizations saw widespread impact in left-ruled Kerala. During this time shops in the state did not open and the public sector bus service KSRTC was also closed.
The 24-hour strike at the call of a central committee of joint trade unions affected normal life in the southern state of the country and showed its impact on all major sectors including government offices, banks and insurance. All government offices and major business establishments across Kerala Stay closed Sabarimala pilgrims were exempted from the strike and movement to the temple continued normally.
In some districts, small shopkeepers also said that the closure of the business will make their lives worse, who are already facing economic slowdown due to the outbreak of Corona virus.
However, due to the Corona virus epidemic, trade unions did not rally or hold public meetings and instead protested and created human chains, keeping in mind the physical distance.
Work stopped in 7,300 bank branches of Madhya Pradesh
During the strike against the alleged anti-labor policies of the government, functioning in 7,300 bank branches of 10 state-run banks in Madhya Pradesh came to a standstill. Different banking services were affected by this. An organization of bank employees claimed this.
MK Shukla, secretary of Madhya Pradesh Bank Employees Association (MPBEA), said, "Around 18,000 officers, employees of 7,300 branches of 10 state-run banks of the state participated in the strike."
He said that along with depositing and withdrawing funds in these bank branches, strike settlement, renewal of fixed deposit (FD) schemes, work related to government treasury and other regular works were affected by the strike.
Shukla told that the employees of State Bank of India and Indian Overseas Bank of the government sector did not participate in the strike.
He also said that the striking bank employees did not take out the rally in view of the outbreak of Kovid-19 and waving placards outside their branches, protesting against the alleged anti-labor policies of the government.
Prayagraj: Employees of GPO shout slogans during the nationwide strike by ten central trade unions against various policies of the NDA government, in Prayagraj, Thursday, November 26, 2020. (PTI Photo) (PTI26-11-2020 000108B)
Also read: Why there are opposing three laws brought in the name of labor reform
The official said the enforcers of the bandh also blocked roads in Cooch Behar and Jhargram districts, burning tires and breaking windows of buses.
He said that the railway tracks were also blocked by the agitators, which affected rail services in Sealdah South and main sections.
In Howrah, an activist of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) said that people are supporting our peaceful protest because it is in their interest.
The ruling Trinamool Congress in the state did not support the strike, but said that it is with the Left and Congress on economic issues.
Kerala remained almost closed
The one-day nationwide strike of various labor organizations saw widespread impact in left-ruled Kerala. During this time shops in the state did not open and the public sector bus service KSRTC was also closed.
The 24-hour strike at the call of a central committee of joint trade unions affected normal life in the southern state of the country and showed its impact on all major sectors including government offices, banks and insurance. All government offices and major business establishments across Kerala Stay closed Sabarimala pilgrims were exempted from the strike and movement to the temple continued normally.
In some districts, small shopkeepers also said that the closure of the business will make their lives worse, who are already facing economic slowdown due to the outbreak of Corona virus.
However, due to the Corona virus epidemic, trade unions did not rally or hold public meetings and instead protested and created human chains, keeping in mind the physical distance.
Work stopped in 7,300 bank branches of Madhya Pradesh
During the strike against the alleged anti-labor policies of the government, functioning in 7,300 bank branches of 10 state-run banks in Madhya Pradesh came to a standstill. Different banking services were affected by this. An organization of bank employees claimed this.
MK Shukla, secretary of Madhya Pradesh Bank Employees Association (MPBEA), said, "Around 18,000 officers, employees of 7,300 branches of 10 state-run banks of the state participated in the strike."
He said that along with depositing and withdrawing funds in these bank branches, strike settlement, renewal of fixed deposit (FD) schemes, work related to government treasury and other regular works were affected by the strike.
Shukla told that the employees of State Bank of India and Indian Overseas Bank of the government sector did not participate in the strike.
He also said that the striking bank employees did not take out the rally in view of the outbreak of Kovid-19 and waving placards outside their branches, protesting against the alleged anti-labor policies of the government.
Prayagraj: Employees of GPO shout slogans during the nationwide strike by ten central trade unions against various policies of the NDA government, in Prayagraj, Thursday, November 26, 2020. (PTI Photo) (PTI26-11-2020 000108B)
Parliament has passed three bills - Industrial Relations Code Bill 2020, Social Security Code Bill 2020 and Occupational Safety, Health and Working Code Bill 2020 - brought in the name of labor reform by Modi government.
Through these laws, while on one hand the government has extended the scope of social security to include gig workers and inter-state migrant laborers, on the other hand, it allows the workers to be hired and fired without government permission. The employer has given more exemption to the employer.
People working as delivery persons of sharing economy like Uber and Ola, Jomato, Swiggy etc. are called gig workers.
Such jobs are associated with online platforms, independent contractors, on-call workers, etc., where employees are not tied to the company and can choose their jobs for the length of time they want to work.
In the bill, the government has made a provision for excessive restrictions on the rights of workers to go on strike.
Along with this, the minimum labor limit has been increased from 100 to 300 to enforce the rules related to recruitment and retrenchment, due to which there is a strong possibility that employers will be able to take advantage of this and immediately remove more workers without government approval and Will take recruitment in the same proportion.
Apart from this, the Labor Ministry has proposed to increase the working hours to a maximum of 12 hours per day in a recently passed code in Parliament. The maximum working day is 10.5 hours.
Through these laws, while on one hand the government has extended the scope of social security to include gig workers and inter-state migrant laborers, on the other hand, it allows the workers to be hired and fired without government permission. The employer has given more exemption to the employer.
People working as delivery persons of sharing economy like Uber and Ola, Jomato, Swiggy etc. are called gig workers.
Such jobs are associated with online platforms, independent contractors, on-call workers, etc., where employees are not tied to the company and can choose their jobs for the length of time they want to work.
In the bill, the government has made a provision for excessive restrictions on the rights of workers to go on strike.
Along with this, the minimum labor limit has been increased from 100 to 300 to enforce the rules related to recruitment and retrenchment, due to which there is a strong possibility that employers will be able to take advantage of this and immediately remove more workers without government approval and Will take recruitment in the same proportion.
Apart from this, the Labor Ministry has proposed to increase the working hours to a maximum of 12 hours per day in a recently passed code in Parliament. The maximum working day is 10.5 hours.
(With input from news agency language)
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