JOIN USTrade unions postpone national strike against Modi govt to March 28-29
The general strike called by ten central trade unions against the Narendra Modi government scheduled for February 23-24 has now been shifted to March 28-29 following the third wave of Covid-19, upcoming Assembly elections and local polls in Odisha and Tamil Nadu.
The decision to postpone the general strike "against the anti-worker, anti-people, anti-national policies" of the Modi government was taken at a meeting of ten central trade unions -- INTUC, AITUC, HMS, CITU, AIUTUC, TUCC, SEWA, AICCTU, LPF and UTUC -- held on Friday.
Preparations for the strike had taken off in several states and sectors with joint state-level conventions and even district-level conventions having taken place in some states but some states informed about the constraints they are facing on preparing for the strike due to the third wave of Covid-19.
The trade union leaders also considered the fact that the fourth phase of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections fell on February 23 as well as local body elections in Tamilnadu, Odisha and West Bengal around the same time.
"Therefore the Joint Platform of the CTUs and Sectoral Federations/Associations have decided to defer the General Strike dates to 28-29 March, 2022, when the second phase of the Budget Session of Parliament will actually be in session," a statement said.
The Joint Platform of central trade unions urged working people and their unions irrespective of affiliations to intensify the ongoing preparatory campaign and activities to make the General Strike a massive success to assert their pledge to "Save the People and Save the Nation from the destructive, anti-national policy regime".
They also called upon workers and their trade unions in the election-bound states to "vigorously campaign for defeating the BJP government whose policies have forced the National Convention of Workers to give a call for two days countrywide strike".
The demands of the ten central trade unions -- INTUC, AITUC, HMS, CITU, AIUTUC, TUCC, SEWA, AICCTU, LPF and UTUC -- include scrapping the Labour Codes, scrapping of Essential Defence Services Act, accepting the six-point charter of demands of the SKM, no to privatisation in any form and scrap the National Monetisation Pipeline, food and income support of Rs 7500 per month to non-income taxpaying households and increased allocation for MNREGA and extension of Employment guarantee Scheme to urban areas among others.
It is also demanding universal social security for all informal sector workers, statutory minimum wage and social security for Anganwadi, ASHA, Mid-day-meal and other scheme workers, proper protection and insurance facilities for frontline workers serving the people in the midst of pandemic and an increase in public investment in agriculture, education, health and other crucial public utilities by taxing the rich through wealth tax in order to revive and revamp the national economy.
Substantial reduction in central excise duty on petroleum product and concrete remedial measure to arrest price rise, regularisation of contract workers, scheme workers and equal pay for equal work for all, cancellation of National Pension Scheme and restoration of old pension and substantial increase in minimum pension under Employees' Pension Scheme are also among the demands.
In the run-up to the general strike, the unions and associations will organise state conventions, human chains, torchlight processions, signature campaigns, sectoral and area-based joint campaigns and agitation to expose the consequences of the "anti-worker, anti-farmer, anti-people, pro-corporate and anti-national destructive policies" by Modi government.
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