SEPTEMBER 29 COUNTRYWIDE STRIKE

A Massive Success!

A deserted Howrah bridge at rush hour on September 29 in Kolkata

The September 29 countrywide strike called by the Sponsoring Committee of Trade Unions has met with massive success. The strike has been called to resist attack on labour rights; to fight back anti-people economic policies and in pursuit of 16-point charter of demands.

THE working class all over the country has magnificently responded today to the call for general strike This is the tenth countrywide general strike since the onset of the Fund-Bank dictated policy of economic liberalisation in the country in 1991. Around 6 crore workers and employees, both from organised and unorganised sectors, and across all sections of the economy joined the strike action to cry halt to the blind pursuit by the UPA government of the same neo-liberal economic policy of reckless privatisation and liberalisation as by the NDA regime, much to the detriment of the national interests.

The Sponsoring Committee of Trade Unions congratulates the working class and toiling people of the country for their overwhelming response to the strike call. We record with appreciation the supportive actions by the fraternal mass organisations of peasants, agricultural workers, women, students and youth etc in the form of demonstration, rasta-roko, rail-roko and thus transforming the general strike into peoples’ resistance action throughout the country. We urge the UPA regime to draw appropriate lessons from this resistance and to swiftly change gear and bring about a directional change in their economic policies.

The Sponsoring Committee of Trade Unions wishes to draw the attention of the working people to the recent actions initiated by the UPA government.

Fresh burdens have been imposed by the fifth hike affected by the UPA regime on the prices of petrol and diesel.

The union cabinet has moved for corporatisation of security presses and government mints, with eventual privatisation in mind.

The process to privatise the Delhi and Mumbai airports, in the name of modernisation through the private-public-partnership is vigourously being taken forward.

The chorus for labour law changes had been revived, reportedly at the instance of the prime minister himself.

Two bills, both pertaining to basic labour rights have been introduced in parliament without any consultation with the trade unions. The bill titled “The Labour Laws (Exemption from Furnishing Returns and Maintaining Registers by Certain Establishments) Amendment and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2005” provides for exemptions to employers in furnishing various returns, registers, statements, mostly pertaining to employees and employment conditions, under various labour laws.

The bill titled, “Small and Medium Enterprises Development Bill 2005” contains dangerous provisions for taking away a large section of workers engaged in the small and medium enterprises out of the purview of labour laws.

The ministry of labour has contemptuously violated the assurance, given on the floor of the parliament, to rescind the NDA government notification permitting a new classification of “Fixed Term Employment Workmen”.

Attempts are on to release a new series of Consumer Price Index with 2001 as the base year, while the unanimous concerns voiced by the central trade unions remain to be addressed.

Scores of draft bills have been put in circulation from different quarters on the legislation for the unorganised sector workers, with no cognisance taken of the core suggestions mooted by the trade unions.

The central government has flatly ruled out any consideration of the demand for the setting up of the Sixth Pay Commission for government employees. 

The finance ministry is getting ready with its plan to migrate to the EEE model of subjecting to taxation all kind of savings instruments, provident funds, various small savings schemes, insurance claims etc., thereby imposing further financial burdens on all workers and the vast community of small savings public.

While the finance ministry is gearing up to push through the  PFRDA Bill in the winter session of parliament, the interim PFRDA is going about finalising all logistical arrangements to flag off the New Pension System.

All these point to the urgent need for further heightened vigilance and preparedness for a sustained struggle on the part of the working class. We call upon the working class to keep up the tempo and prepare for future struggles, if the government does not mend its ways and persist with its anti-people and anti-labour policies.

Many of the BMS and INTUC affiliates and followers joined the strike action in a big way. In Bangalore, both in the public sector and several private sector units, the strike was joined by both the INTUC and the BMS. The BMS union at Bharat Electronics Ltd, Ghaziabad joined the strike along with the other unions. In coalmines, most of the workers from the INTUC and BMS unions have joined the strike action throughout the country. The banking and insurance sectors noted participation of the followers of INTUC and BMS affiliated unions as well in the strike action. Thus, the tenth countrywide general strike by the working class against the policies of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation and attack on labour rights has reflected much broader unity at the grass root level.

The general strike of September 29 transformed into a complete bandh in West Bengal, Kerala, Tripura and Assam; a bandh like situation was witnessed in Haryana, Orissa and Jharkhand owing to massive participation by workers across the affiliations and immense support from people from other walks of life. In Punjab, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh UT, total strike by roadways workers has paralysed the traffic.  In Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, more than 50 per cent of buses were off the road. 

In Gurgaon, which was the scene of barbaric brutalities against the workers of Honda in July last, more than 85 per cent of the workers in the entire industrial area were on strike; they came over to the streets in thousand and braved lathi charge and arrests.

In several states, instances of mass arrests have been reported – as in Tamil Nadu (25,000) Orissa (10,000), Assam, Jharkhand and Rajasthan. Police resorted to brutalities in Jaipur and Kanpur. Schools and colleges were closed in Uttaranchal.

Demonstrators at innumerable centers all over the country staged angry protests and submitted memoranda to the local administration.

The massive participation of the employees of airports and civil aviation sector in the strike in all the 124 airports in the country has brought the air-traffic to a virtual standstill. This has put the UPA government on notice against its ongoing exercise to hand over the Mumbai and Delhi airports to handpicked private players.

The overwhelming majority of around one crore government employees in the country, both of central and state governments, staged the biggest ever countrywide strike action, barring a very few states. The overwhelming majority of central government employees – in the telecom, postal departments, AG office, income tax and audit offices – joined the strike in a big way throughout the country braving threats and prohibitive fiats. More than 80 per cent of the defence sector employees, working in around 94 ordinance factories and depots all over the country, joined the strike action at the call of All India Defence Employees Federation.

In other sectors..

• The entire financial sector covering the banks and the insurance companies witnessed almost total strike throughout the country involving around 20 lakh workers and employees.

• Of the six-lakh coal-mining workers in nine companies, more than 70 per cent workers joined the strike action. In the non-coal mining belt as well, spreading over Jharkhand, Orissa and Chhattisgarh, the strike was near total.

• Bangalore, Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam, the public sector hubs in the country, witnessed massive strike in all the PSUs.

• In the plantation sector throughout the country, the strike was near total. In sugar and cement industries also the strike was widespread.

• Unorganised sector workers in brick-kilns, head-load, beedi, and mandi-workers took part in strike in a big way, and organised rail-roko and rasta-roko at various centres throughout the country.

• The construction workers, both from the organised and unorganised sector responded to the strike call in a big way.

• The workers in all the hydel-projects under construction in the state of Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal and Jammu were on complete strike.

• Anganwadi workers throughout the country also participated in the strike in a big way.

• The transport workers, both from the state and private sector responded to strike call magnificently

• In Port & Dock, strike was massive at Kolkata, Haldia, Kochi, Kandla, Paradip, Tuticorin, Vishakapatnam and JNPT (Mumbai) and it was partial in other ports.

•  The oil sector workers took part in the strike in a big way. In the installations, and refineries in Tripura, Assam, West Bengal, Bihar and Haryana and in the southern and northern states, the strike was total and partial in other areas.

•  In steel sector, the strike was total in Durgapur, Burnpur; 60 per cent workers joined strike in Salem steel and in other places, it was partial.

• Electricity workers joined the strike in a big way in most of the states. In some states like UP, in certain areas, they were on strike and in other areas day-long dharnas were organised, drawing participation of workers of other affiliation.

In several sectors solidarity actions were also staged in support of the strike.