Nine major trade unions, including the INTUC, AITUC and CITU, have called for an all-India strike by workers on September 7 to protest against “inaction” of the Union government to look into their genuine problems. The leaders of the union met a INTUC headquarters in New Delhi and made a joint statement regarding the preparations for the strike.
The unions said some federations of bank employees unions too would participate in the dawn-to-dusk strike.
AITUC general secretary and MP Gurudas Dasgupta warned that the unions would launch a “march to Parliament” in February during the budget session if the UPA government failed to meet their demands.
CITU president M.K. Pandhe appealed to all workers to make the strike a success.
Though INTUC’s decision to join the strike along with outfits like CITU and AITUC for the first time has raised quite a few eyebrows within the Congress, its chief Sanjeev Reddy appeared unruffled. Mr. Reddy made a scathing attack on UPA government. “The rising prices of essential commodities have hit the working class. The poor workers of this country are suffering. They are starving,” he said.
To a question as to how the Congress-affiliated INTUC was joining the Left trade unions, Mr Reddy said: “If Congress could form a government with the Left’s support, then what is the harm in joining hands with them for an agitation.” Mr Reddy said the trade unions have been forced to chalk out a joint strategy because of the worsening scenario for the working class. “The government’s failure to control inflation and its indifference to the trade unions are matters of grave concern,” he said
No comments:
Post a Comment