People's Democracy

Significance Of September 29 Strike

M K Pandhe

THE All India general strike on September 29, 2005 called by the Sponsoring Committee of Trade Unions was a resounding success. While publishing the news some national dailies gave the caption “The nation came to a grinding halt”. Never before has an industrial action of the working class assumed such a widespread character.

The financial journals were vying with each other to calculate how many thousands of crores of rupees were lost in production and services due to the strike. Most of them were surprised to note that with normal daily transactions in banking sector were averaging over Rs 10,000 crore while on September 29 the total banking transactions were only Rs 1,356 crore! Most of the long distance trains were stranded while majority of the airlines flights could not take off on the day. The claim of the minister of civil aviation that the air traffic was normal during the strike was not taken seriously by anybody.

The support given by the Left parties to the strike resulted in all the bourgeois press characterising the strike as Left-sponsored strike. They deliberately ignored the support given by a large number of non-Left trade unions, including those belonging to INTUC and BMS. The angry editor of The Economic Times editorially wrote on October 2: “It was a successful strike, claimed the Left unions. If bringing their own country to its knees for 24 hours is something to be proud of the Left has much to be proud of. And so what if the Kerala High Court had questioned the legality of bandhs and the Kolkata High Court had been extremely critical of processions disrupting life in Mahanagar.”

AIRPORTS PARALYSED

Both electronic and print media highlighted the countrywide strike of the airport employees because their action caused severe disruption to air traffic. For the first time in history of civil aviation in the country, the employees of Airport Authoritiy of India (AAI) downed their tools, and out of a total of 22,000 employees nearly 20,000 joined the strike to oppose privatisation of Mumbai and Delhi airports. The attempts of the ministry of civil aviation to involve paramilitary forces to break the strike could not be of much help to the government to carry out normal operations. Civil Aviation minister Praful Patel personally camped at Mumbai to see that normality is restored but could not do much to break the strike of the workers. His threat to apply ESMA to airport operations failed to browbeat the employees who were determined to oppose privatisation of airports. Due to participation of officers, technicians and engineers in the strike action, it was not possible to break the strike. While Jet Airways, Kingfisher and other private airlines were forced to cancel their fights as per the direction of the civil aviation ministry, Indian Airlines operated some flights which carried less than 10 passengers.

The successful strike of Airport Authority employees has created a confidence in them that they can fight the policies of privatisation of airports with more firmness and determination. The support their struggle got from other sections of the trade union movement has added to their confidence.

The Air Corporation Employees Union did not join the strike but they expressed solidarity with the airport employees and in several centres they organised demonstrations in support of the striking workers. The Air India Employees Guild also did not strike on the plea that they did not get any instructions from HMS. It is necessary to pay attention to this sector of employees so that they are involved in forthcoming struggles against the policies of globalisation.

SUCCESS IN FINANCIAL SECTOR

As expected, the strike among bank employees was near total all over India and even those employees not affiliated to the constituents of the sponsoring committee enthusiastically participated in the strike. Massive demonstrations were organised in all the banks on the day of strike while the participation of the officers in the strike made it spectacular. The effect of the strike was felt in the rural areas when the Regional Rural Bank employees observed a total strike all over India.

The union finance minister P Chidambaram was so annoyed with the powerful action of the bank employees that he threatened to force them to work extra hours on the next working day. However, the bank employees refused to pay any heed to such threats. The leaders of the bank employees movement announced on the day of the strike their determination to oppose reckless entry of foreign banks into the Indian banks and the government’s move to privatise banking system in the country.

The insurance industry was totally paralysed on the day of strike when all the unions unitedly joined the strike. The insurance workers held militant demonstrations before insurance offices and expressed their opposition to the policies of globalisation. The strike of the insurance unions acquires significance due to a successful agreement signed by the AIIEA with the management. The fond hope of the LIC that the strike may not be successful due to wage rise proved to be a pipe dream.

The remarkable unity achieved by the employees in the financial sector during the strike will certainly create serious obstacles in the government of India’s plans to introduce pro-World Bank “Financial Sector Reforms”.

PARTICIPATION OF GOVT EMPLOYEES

The participation of the central and state government employees across the country was more prominent this time than in earlier strike actions. It is clear there is severe discontentment among these employees due to threat of privatisation of pension scheme and making it contributory; the refusal of the UPA government to appoint Sixth Pay Commission despite clear cut recommendation of the Fifth Pay Commission; downsizing manpower and not filling vacant posts in government services; threat to privatise Central Government Health Service (CGHS), mint and security presses etc. The massive participation of government employees in this strike has contributed a great deal in making the nationwide strike a massive success. The participation of non-committed government employees in this strike has also helped in making the sweep of the strike larger. The unity achieved by the All India State Government Employees Federation and Confederation of Central Government Employees and Workers in making the strike call a grand success is to be noted. The participation of extra departmental employees who are deprived the status of regular employees is also of special importance. The dividing wall between the government employees and the mainstream trade union movement has now broken and despite Supreme Court denying them right to strike, it is now clear – both in the earlier strike on February 24, 2004 and the strike on September 29, 2005 – the right to strike for the government employees has been established in a clear cut manner, throwing out all retrograde judicial pronouncements.

The All India Defence Employees Federation proved its majority in a secret ballot conducted by the UPA government, which gave immense confidence among five lakh defence employees working in 94 ordnance factories and depots. By effectively participating in the strike, the defence employees have expressed their firm opposition to the privatisation drive in defence sector. On September 29 the strike in all the civilian defence establishment was beyond expectation resulting in further strengthening of the influence of the AIDEF.

ACTION IN PUBLIC SECTOR

The growing unity among the Oil workers against the policy of disinvestment and privatisation has assumed an all India character in production, refining and distribution sectors, making the countrywide impact of the oil workers strike more pronounced this time than all previous strikes. Even workers supplying fuel to the aircraft at the airports observed strike in majority of airports.

Over 4.5 lakh coal workers participated in this strike. In ECL, BCCL, ECL, NECL the strike was total while in other coal companies, overwhelming majority of the workers participated in the strike action. A successful campaign to oppose privatisation of coal mines was launched on the eve of the strike and workers of all affiliations actively participated in the strike action. In this case also the CIL management was hoping that due to recent rise in wages of coal workers, they would not join the strike. However, the strike was successful despite a substantial wage rise of coal workers.

The prevalent acute discontent among the workers in central public sector undertakings on the question of disinvestment and privatisation found reflection in their participation in strike. The central government’s open backing for private undertakings while at the same time making the public sector non-competent has resulted in several agitations among the public sector units. Overwhelming majority of workers in public sector undertakings joined the strike to express their disapproval about the UPA government’s policy towards public sector. Privatising the profit making public undertakings in violation of the CMP has added fuel to the fire. Unity of all the unions, irrespective of affiliations, was observed in several public undertakings during the strike. The strike in BSNL was near total.

The participation of plantation workers in all sectors was quite successful this time in all the states, although in some areas it was partial. On the whole, overwhelming majority of the plantation workers went on strike.

A welcome feature in the preparation of the strike was the participation of larger number of women workers in the meetings and demonstrations. Even on the day of strike they have shown greater enthusiasm in picketing for the strike. In the industries where women employment is significant, the strike witnessed growing militancy among the women workers.

The self-employed workers – home-based workers, hawkers, rikshaw pullers, head-load workers etc – have also participated in the strike across the country, which gave the strike a widespread character.

UNORGANISED WORKERS    

The press and television have created an impression that the general strike was successful only in the organised sector of the working class and that the unorganised sector was not involved in the action. However, reports received from all over India clearly indicate that this time the participation of the unorganised workers was more pronounced than in any previous strike. Lakhs of workers in brick kiln, beedi-making, construction, handloom and fishery industry joined the strike. The workers in traditional industry like cashew, coir etc, who face closure and retrenchment, have also joined the strike in large numbers. The Anganwadi women workers also took prominent part in the strike.

The UPA government policy has hit hard these informal sector workers. The promised bills for the unorganised and agricultural workers have not yet seen the light of the day. Whatever drafts have been prepared by the government fail to meet the aspirations of the unorganised workers. The reckless imports after withdrawal of quantitative restrictions have created a crisis situation in small and medium industries, which have been facing closure. The inability of the small scale industry to compete with the large scale manufacturing industry after withdrawal of reservation for it has ruined the small scale sector. The promised help for revival of sick industries was not forthcoming, resulting in job losses in large number. This situation has made these workers to take to the path of agitation and struggle. The all India strike gave them an opportunity to express their protest and it was reflected in their massive participation in the strike.

GLARING WEAKNESSES

The nationwide general strike also reflected the weaknesses in the trade union movement. The railway workers whose strength is over 13 lakhs have not joined the strike action which indicates a serious shortcoming in our TU movement. However due to rail roko agitation launched by AIKS and other mass organisations, the railway traffic went out of gear on the day of the strike. No long distance train reached its destination in time due to the strike. In some states, rail traffic was totally paralysed due to rail roko agitations.

Another major shortcoming of the strike action was non-participation of the two major federations of the port and workers. Despite threat of privatisation and downsizing manpower, a good strike could not be organised. In Kolkata and Haldia, the strike was complete but it was partial in other ports. In Mumbai there was no strike among port and workers except in JNPT.

Another weakness of the strike was reflected in the response in the steel industry. While the strike was near total in Durgapur and Burnpur, it was partial in Bokaro, Vishakapatnam and Salem. In Jamshedpur, Rourkela and Bhilai, the strike could not be organised. However, the strike was successful in central marketing organisation of SAIL and in iron ore mining areas. By and large, the impact of the strike in steel industry was not effective.

The impact of strike in the IT sector was partial in certain areas while most of the IT units did not go on strike due to absence of TU rights.

The united trade union movement has to take note of these weaknesses so that steps are taken in future to ensure participation of these sectors in nationwide strike action.

Though the strike was more effective in Bengal, Kerala and Tripura, its sweep was quite widespread in other states this time. More and more sections of the working class are joining the vortex of working class struggle, giving it a real nationwide character.

The UPA government should take note of the strong resentment prevailing among all sections of the working class against the economic policy being pursued at the dictates of World Bank and IMF. It should stop violating the CMP and implement all the commitments made in it in true spirit. The UPA government’s stability largely depends on its fulfilment of the commitments given to the working class and the people of India.

However, if the UPA government continues to follow its anti-working class policy, which is adversely affecting the working and living conditions of the toiling millions, it will have to face bigger working class resistance in the forthcoming period. It is high time that the UPA should draw lessons from the debacle of NDA government which pursued economic policies of globalisation.