Banking and transport workers on strike against new labour policies

Trade unions are demanding urgent measures for containing price-rise, universal social security cover for all and minimum wages of not less than Rs 15,000 per month

jasleen

Jasleen Kaur | September 2, 2016 | New Delhi


#Banking   #transport   #coal   #workers   #strike   #price-rise   #social security   #minimum wages  

 Services like banking and public transport were largely affected on Friday as more than a million workers across various sectors were on a day-long nationwide strike, protesting against new labour policies and demanding better pay.

The central trade unions including the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), All India Trade Unions Congress (AITUC), brought public life in the country to a standstill. Workers of the state-run Coal India are also part of the strike.
 
Speaking with Governance Now, Ashok Singh, general secretary INTUC said that the massive strike has been called to protest against the authoritarian way of the NDA government. “We had submitted a 12 point memorandum to the government last year. A committee was formed under the chairmanship of Arun Jaitley. It has been over a year now and not a single meeting has been called. We gave them enough time to take action.”
 
Singh said that the Narendra Modi-led NDA government has been taking decisions against the working class. Also, they have made the changes in the labour laws without taking the trade unions in confidence.
 
A 12-point charter of demands was submitted to the Centre last year. The demands included urgent measures for containing price-rise, universal social security cover for all workers, minimum wages of not less than Rs 15,000 per month, assuring enhanced pension not less than Rs 3,000 per month for the entire working population and stopping disinvestment in central and state PSUs.
 
The NDA government aims to raise over Rs 55,000 crore through disinvestment this financial year. It also plans to shut down some of the loss making companies. On Tuesday finance minister Arun Jaitley gave assurance to the employees that bonuses for the last two years will be released soon and it will also increase the minimum wages for unskilled labourers.
 
Jibon Roy, general secretary, All India Coal Workers Federation and former Rajya Sabha member, says the strike is mainly a consolidation against reforms which are taking shape to bring slavery.
 
“Character of reforms is colonial. They are also exploiting the caste system for getting low cost labour,” he adds.
 
He says for permanent workers, the wage level is not according to the price rise. Also, more number of contractual workers is taken on board who do not getting enough wage. “The government is not creating reform policies for us. The focus is on the industries and their growth,” he adds.
 

Comments

 

Other News

Bharatiya Bhasha Utsav, Technology & Bharatiya Bhasha Summit launched

Union Minister for Education and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship Dharmendra Pradhan Saturday launched the Bharatiya Bhasha Utsav and inaugurated the two-day Technology & Bharatiya Bhasha Summit in New Delhi. The summit aims to facilitate a seamless transition from the current education ecosyst

India retains 40th rank in the Global Innovation Index 2023

India has retained the 40th rank out of 132 economies in the Global Innovation Index 2023 rankings published by the World Intellectual Property Organization. India has been on a rising trajectory, over the past several years in the Global Innovation Index (GII), from a rank of 81 in 2015 to 40 in 2023. Inn

Vibrant Gujarat not just about branding, also an event of bonding: Modi

Prime minister Narendra Modi addressed the programme marking 20 years celebration of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit at Science City in Ahmedabad on Wednesday. The Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit was started 20 years ago, on September 28, 2003, under the leadership of Modi, then chief minis

AI in education: How to embrace the change (and why)

It is often said that industry is at 4.0 and education is at 2.0. To transform education in line with artificial intelligence (AI), it is imperative to adopt what companies like Google are doing. We must learn to grow along with AI as AI is going to grow. There is a need to evolve the mindsets of educators

Diamonds are Forever: A Saturday story

Saturday Stories By Rashmi Bansal HarperCollins, 176 pages, Rs 250 From the bestselling author of ‘Stay Hu

Oracle Adds AI Capabilities to Oracle Analytics Cloud

Oracle has showcased new AI-powered capabilities within Oracle Analytics Cloud. Leveraging the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Generative AI service, the new capabilities assist analytics self-service users to more quickly and efficiently conduct sophisticated analysis and make better business decisions

Visionary Talk: Amitabh Gupta, Pune Police Commissioner with Kailashnath Adhikari, MD, Governance Now


Archives

Current Issue

Opinion

Facebook Twitter Google Plus Linkedin Subscribe Newsletter

Twitter