People's Democracy

MASSIVE COUNTRYWIDE GENERAL STRIKE ON MAY 21

Action Forged Grass-Roots Level Unity

Tapan Sen

THE call for nationwide general strike on May 21, 2003 given by the central trade unions and industrial federations against the anti-national and anti-people policies of the NDA government has been magnificently responded to by the working class all over the country. Although the national leadership of the INTUC and BMS opposed the strike action, their opposition did not have any impact on the ground as their followings and affiliated unions joined the strike in many of the places and in most of the sectors. This was primarily because both the INTUC and BMS agreed to the eight point demands of the strike, yet opposed the strike to press for these very same demands. It was clear their followers did not agree with this opportunistic stand.

This has been the eighth countrywide general strike by the working class against the policies of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation. It has been the culmination of almost a one year long campaign and started with the involvement of all the trade union centers in the country. Eight point charter of demands aimed at reversal of the anti-national economic policies of the NDA Govt was formulated jointly by all the trade unions and it was an unanimous one. But when the time for concrete action on that commonly agreed charter of demands came to fore, the national leadership of both the INTUC and BMS backtracked calling it “politically motivated”.

Gopeswar, former general secretary, INTUC, in a letter addressed to M K  Pandhe, general secretary, CITU, on May 15, conveyed his strong support to the call for general strike against ‘economic imperialism’.  The INTUC unions in the oil sector of Assam, in Bharat Electronics Ltd, Ghaziabad, at ONGC, Tripura and many other places served strike notices and joined the strike. The near total strike in coal and port &dock sector where the INTUC and BMS also are having significant following established beyond doubt that the major section of their own ranks outrightly rejected such opportunist stance of not joining the united countrywide action.

Thus the unity of the working class movement got a new dimension and reiterated the time-tested truth: “unity of the working class is meant for action and built through action only” and “such urge for action and unity at the grass root level can ensure and sustain tangible unity in the trade union movement” in the forthcoming struggles.

The  general strike of May 21 got converted into a total bandh in eight states -West Bengal, Kerala, Tripura,  Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Goa and Pondicherry - owing to massive support from people from other walks of life in the struggle against the disastrous policies of the Vajpayee government. In Andhra Pradesh, the Congress Party supported the bandh.  In Orissa also a bandh like situation had emerged as mass of the people took to the streets along with the striking workers. Owing to participation in strike by the Roadways and public transport workers in Haryana and massive demonstration by the striking workers on the main roads, a bandh-like situation also emerged at various pockets of the state. In Karnataka also there has been bandh in six districts - Bellary, Tumkur, Koppala, Gangavati, Uttarakannada, and Mysore. Reports have also been received from UP, Maharashtra, and other places about paralysing effect of the massive demonstration and blockade by the striking workers along with other sections of the people in various centers of those states. Reports of arrests and lathicharges on the demonstrating workers and leaders were received from Ranchi (145 arrested), Dhanbad, Jamshedpur in Jharkhand,  Patna in Bihar, Sundargarh, Rourkela in Orissa, Sonepat, Hissar in Haryana.   

The strike action was also massive in almost all the vital and strategic sectors of the economy drawing participation of workers of all affiliations.

·        In the electricity sector all over the country, overwhelming majority of the workers, including engineers, joined the strike en masse.

·        In the fertiliser sector, all the four plants of the giant National Fertilisers Ltd at Panipat, Bhatinda, Nangal and Pune, FACT units in Kerala and Namrup Fertliser at Assam and Madras Fertiliser in Tamilnadu reported complete strike.

·        In the coal industry covering more than nine states from north to south and nine companies, more than eighty percent workers including those having allegiance to the INTUC and BMS, participated in the strike keeping up their fighting tradition of all the previous strikes. In BCCL, ECL and CCL, strike was almost hundred percent.

·        In the steel industry, the steel plants in Durgapur, Burnpur,  Salem reported strike by more than eighty percent of the workers, around 40 per cent workers joined the strike in Bokaro steel plant severely affecting crucial production departments like coke-oven and blast-furnace, while in other places the strike was partial. In the iron-ore mines in Orissa and Bihar and in the countrywide marketing centers of public sector SAIL, the strike was complete.

·        In all the major ports and docks of the country, the strike was more than ninety per cent paralyzing the operations.

·        In the oil PSUs, particularly in the refinery and marketing segments in West Bengal, Assam, Tripura, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Tamilanadu and  Maharashtra, the strike evoked massive response. In the ONGC units also the strike was total in Assam, Tripura and West Bengal and partial in other places.

·        The strike was almost total in all the banks and insurance companies in the financial sector, throughout the country.

·        In post offices and telecom offices and installations under BSNL all over the country, majority of the workers and employees joined the strike.

·        More than eighty per cent of the 60 lakh state government employees in most of the states in the country joined the strike in a big way including municipal and panchayat workers and local bodies, severely affecting the state administration.      

·        The employees of central government offices all over the country also took part in the strike in a massive way at the call of their Confederation of Central Govt Employees and Workers.

·        In all the public sector units all over the country, the response to the strike was overwhelming and spontaneous. The centres of PSU-clusters like Bangalore, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Kolkata, Chennai etc witnessed near-total strike.

·        In almost all the Defence industry-units all over the country right from Uttaranchal to extreme south of the country the strike was almost total.

·        Women workers took part in the strike in a big way throughout the country. Anganwadi workers in lakhs took part in the strike and plantation sector also witnessed massive strike.

·        The workers of the unorganised sector throughout the country viz., beedi, loading-unloading, contract workers in different trades, brick-kilns, forest workers, sweeping and cleaning and various other occupations joined the general strike and mobilised in a big way for rasta roko/rail roko demonstrations braving arrests and police-atrocities.

 Following are some of the state reports on the strike. More will be given next week:

Andhra Pradesh: The bandh call was largely successful. More than 60 per cent state transport workers were on strike along with more than eighty per cent workers in other public transport like auto-rickshaw etc. All the industrial areas throughout the state witnessed massive strike. Unorganised sector workers responded to strike call magnificently and joined in rallies and demonstration statewide. In all the PSUs like ECIL, HCL, BDL, Midhani etc strike was near total.

Jharkhand: The general strike became a virtual bandh in most parts of the state. Besides near total strike in coal sector under BCCL and CCL, the workers of the industrial areas of   Ranchi, Hatia Bokaro, Dhanbad, Jamshedpur etc joined the strike in a big way. Among the workers of the unorganised sector particularly from Beedi and stone quarries strike was almost total and they joined in militant demonstration for road-blockade in many places in the State braving arrests and police atrocities.   

Orissa: Good response to strike was reported from the industrial workers from Bhubaneswar, Rourkela, Cuttack, Dhenkanol and other places. In the mining belt, both in coal, iron-ore and others, strike was almost total. In NALCO all the unions joined  hands to make the strike a success. The revival of the decision of the NDA government for disinvestment of NALCO electrified the atmosphere in that industry and as a result its administrative office at Bhubaneswar with plants at Angul & Damanjodi were paralysed. In the steel plant, the strike was partial. There has been road blockade demonstration organized at numerous centers in the State leading to arrest of around 5000 workers throughout the State including Bishnu Mohanty, state general secretary of CITU.

Assam: The general strike took the shape of a virtual BANDH throughout the State, particularly in the districts of Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, Jorhat, Sibsagar, Sonitpur, Darrang Dhubri, Barpeta, Goalpara, Bongaigaon, Kokrajhar, Cachar and Kamrup. Even education institutions are also closed. Besides complete strike in Oil and Natural Gas installations, Banks, Insurance etc, good response to strike call was also received in plantation, and other industries as well. Demonstartions were held at several parts of the State braving arrests and police atrocities. Deben Bhattacharya, State General Secretary of CITU was also arrested along with leaders of other mass organizations. 

Delhi: Delhi and surrounding industrial centers like Ghaziabad, and Noida  witnessed a massive response to the strike call on May 21. In most of the major industrial areas of the capital, like Okhla, Mayapuri, Naraina, Mangolpuri, Wazirpur,  Kirtinagar, Samaipur-Badli, Friends Colony, Jhilmil etc., workers collected in huge numbers and took out processions implementing the strike call, and shouted anti-government slogans. In a few places clashes took place with local police who were acting at the behest of factory owners. Several hotels, offices, and other establishments were also affected by the strike. The strike was also successfully observed in industrial areas of Ghaziabad, like Sahibabad, public sector units like BEL and CEL, and state govt. employees. Similarly strike affected industrial areas in all four phases of Noida, and various sectors of Faridabad. In all these places too workers took out huge processions. Delhi University employees also joined the strike in a big way.

Tamilnadu: Almost all the major industries in Tamilnadu like Ashok Leyland, Ennore Foundries, EID, MRF, Enfield India, Wimco, Carborandum Universal, Madras Fertilisers, GEC Alsthom, Ranemadras along with the public sector units in the state like BHEL, IOC, NLC witnessed massive strike. In the textile sector also the response to the strike was substantial. Madras Export Processing Zone was also severely affected by the strike action.  The strike in state transport was partial. In Ambathur Thiruvamiyur industrial estate workers joined the strike in a big way. District based demonstration were organised by the striking workers.

Karnataka: The general strike was successful throughout the state. The PSUs like HAL, BEML, BEL, ITI, BHEL, HMT witnessed near total strike action. In six districts bandh was observed. In Bangalore alone, road-blockade was organised in 13 places. Around 200 workers were arrested.

Maharashtra: The strike call received a very good response throughout the state despite opposition from the leadership of INTUC, BMS and Shiv Sena. Mass of the workers from almost all the industrial units in Mumbai and suburban areas, Thane, Nasik, Pune, Nagpur, Icchalkaranji, Solapur, Kolhapur  and other areas joined the strike. Port operation was completely out of gear. Food corporation workers and the mathadi workers attached to it joined the strike and staged militant demonstrations all over the state. Anganwadi workers and sugarcane workers also struck work and joined the demonstrations at many places.  In the oil refineries, banks and insurance sectors the strike was total. The state and central government employees were mostly on strike. In Mumbai, at Andheri and Bhandup, road-blockade demonstration was organised and sixty people were arrested by the Police.

Chhattisgarh: Besides more than eighty per cent strike action by the coal mine workers throughout the state, the workers in all the industrial areas joined the strike. Striking workers of BALCO staged a day long dharna before the factory. In Dhamtari, Bilaspur, Raipur and other areas with the huge participation of unorganised workers there was complete strike and marketplace operation was severely affected. Militant demonstrations were organised in Raipur, Dhamtari, Korba, Bilaspur and other places.

Madhya Pradesh: Besides massive strike in the coal mining sector, good response to strike was also reported from the industrial areas at Bhopal, Gwalior, Guna, Rewa, Muraina, Bhind, Narasinghpur, Shahdol, Indore, Jabalpur and other places. The striking workers of Mandidwip and Gobindpura and adjoining area marched in procession in the entire area. At Bhopal there was a massive mobilisation of the striking workers who courted arrest. Rail roko was organised at Gwalior station while rasta roko was organised at Mahu subdivision of Indore and Shahdol  jointly by the workers and peasants. The Police made mass scale arrests.  

Uttar Pradesh: Good response to the strike by industrial workers was reported from Kanpur, Lucknow, Baranasi, Meerut, Agra, Jhansi, Bulandsahar, Sonebhadra etc. Rail roko was reported from Kanpur.

Uttaranchal: Besides complete strike in the defence production unit, Banks and Insurance sector, massive strike was also reported from Garwal Mandal Vikash Nigam, Jal-Nigam. The strike in state transport roadways and BHEL Hardwar was partial. Strike was complete in Electricity, Hotels and Mining and Power Generation units.

Himachal Pradesh: In all the hydel projects in the state viz., Nathpa Jhakri, Parvati, Coal-dam, Largi, Chamera etc strike was complete. Hotel workers took part in the strike in Shimla and held massive rally before Panchayat Bhawan.   Anganwadi workers joined the strike in a big way and held demonstration before district headquarters.  In the industrial areas at Solan, Baddi Berotiwala, Sirmaour etc, the response to strike was fairly good. PWD and health workers also went on strike in the state. 

Rajasthan: The industrial areas of Sriganganagar, Hanumangarh, Khetry, Sikar, Bharatpur, Alawar, Udaypur, Kankroli and Jodhpur remained virtually closed due to strike. Among the major industrial units where strike was near total were Hindustan Copper Ltd at Khetry, J K Tyre at Kankroli and also the Kamani Engineering. The strike was so widespread among the workers of unorganised sectors throughout the state that most of the big markets, godowns remained closed or were inoperative. Demonstrations and road-blockade were organised at various spots at Sriganganagar and Hanumangarh. At Jaipur, the striking workers held a massive rally at Saheed Minar Park.

Reports of widespread strike and demonstration was reported from Punjab, Bihar and Gujarat also.

The unprecedented sweep and coverage of the May 21 general strike and the struggling mood of the mass of the workers it reflected all around enjoins upon the trade union movement the responsibility to continue the initiative to carry the struggle to further militant height. The momentum generated by the massive strike action must be taken forward.