A convention of 11 Central trade unions on Tuesday declared a nationwide strike on September 2 against proposed changes in labour laws and introduction of FDI in sectors like railways, defence and finance.
The convention was attended by Search Results Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS), Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) and Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) among others. The BMS is affiliated to RSS.
An alarmed government, on the other hand, has announced a five member inter-ministerial committee to hold dialogues with the unions on their 10-point demands.
The Committee consists of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Power Minister Piyush Goel, Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya and Minister of State in PMO Jitendra Singh.
Labour Ministry sources disclosed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was personally monitoring the developments. Labour Minister Dattatreay has been in constant touch with him. However, the announcement of the Inter-ministerial Committee could not impress the trade unions.
“The late announcement of decision only shows that the government is not serious to our demands. When they came to know that we would decide to go on strike, they announced their intention to hold dialogues,” AITUC national secretary Amarjit Kaur told Deccan Herald.
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