10 trade unions to go on nationwide strike on July 9 over Modi govt's 'anti-workers, anti-farmers' policies

The trade unions also referred to the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Bihar and claimed it is a conspiracy against working people

New Delhi: Ten central trade unions will go on a nationwide General Strike on Wednesday protesting against Narendra Modi government’s “anti-worker, anti-farmer and anti-national, pro-corporate policies”, which include the push to impose labour codes and the recently announced Employment-Linked Incentive (ELI) scheme.

The trade unions – INTUC, AITUC, HMS, CITU, AIUTUC, TUCC, SEWA, AICCTU, LPF and UTUC – also referred to the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Bihar and claimed it is a conspiracy against working people to snatch their right to vote and citizenship to ensure that workers do not have collective bargaining power.

The union leaders said the general strike in some states like Bihar, Kerala, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu could assume the character of ‘bandh’, amid Opposition parties, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), joint front of the agricultural workers, NREGA Sangharsh Morcha and other organisations announcing support for the agitation programme.

The general strike was initially called for May 20 but was rescheduled following the Pahalgam terror strike and subsequent Operation Sindoor.

Addressing a joint press conference of trade union leaders on Monday, AITUC General Secretary Amarjeet Kaur said the government reached out to the unions individually on Saturday for a meeting but “without an agenda”. She said the strike call was given on March 18 and the charter of demands were known but the government did not want to discuss any of them.

Kaur said the union government is now trying to implement the four labour codes by making state governments frame rules. However, she said, the workers’ pressure has ensured that the private sector is not enforcing new rules like increasing working hours.

CITU General Secretary Tapan Sen said the ELI scheme is a “system of slavery” aimed at weeding out regular workers and replacing them with interns, apprentices and trainees. He also questioned the claims on achieving the goal of ‘Viksit Bharat’ (Developed India) when the production in the country is shrinking.

According to a statement of the Platform of Central Trade Unions, the government has not been conducting Indian Labour conference for the last 10 years and continues taking decisions in contravention to the interest of labour force, including attempts to impose labour codes with the objective to “weaken collective bargaining, to cripple union activities and to favour” employers in the name of ‘Ease of Doing Business’.

The trade unions have been fighting against the privatisation of Public Sector enterprises and public services, the policies of outsourcing, contractorization and casualisation of workforce, against the anti-workers, pro-employer four labour codes meant to suppress and cripple the trade union movement, increase in working hours, to snatch their right to collective bargaining, right to strike, decriminalization of violation of labour laws by employers, while criminalising the activities of trade unions etc, it added.