Central trade unions (CTUs) across India have rejected the Union government's efforts for the nationwide bandh on Sept. 2, 2016 to be called off. As a result, all banks, factories and other organised sectors are expected to come to a standstill on Friday.
Leading trade unions, including the All India Trade Unions Congress (AITUC) and Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), have refused to call off the strike, saying that the government failed to meet their 12-point charter of demands.
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The demands include raising the minimum wage from Rs. 9,000 to Rs. 18,000 per month, stopping the disinvestment of Coal India, ending allocations of coal blocks to private companies, sorting out the wage revision of contact workers as well as outsourced workers in the coal industry. The CTUs also objected to the government's decision of foreign investment, especially in the pharmaceutical and defence sectors, on grounds of threat to national security.
Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya had urged CTUs to reconsider their decision of going on a nationwide strike. But they rejected it saying that the status report on the demands was almost identical to what was circulated one year ago. A joint meeting between the two was held on Aug. 26-27, 2015, ahead of the general strike that year.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi also convened an emergency meeting with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Power and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal and Dattatreya regarding the matter. A new offer may be made to the CTUs that will hopefully lead them to call off the strike.
Almost 5 lakh bank union workers and officers will reportedly join the strike to protest against the "anti-people, anti-national and anti-worker" policies of the Modi government. Workers and employees of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will also join the protest.
The All India Reserve Bank Employees' Association (AIRBEA) and the All India Reserve Bank Workers' Federation (AIRBWF) said in a joint statement that their employees "all over the country will participate in September 2 industrial strike in support of the demands of the country's working class."
The CTUs had requested Dattatreya to hold a meeting with the five-member panel of ministers dealing with labour issues to look into their demands in July this year. However, no such meeting was held.
The Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), an RSS-affiliated union, had opted out of the last Bharat Bandh that was held on Sep 2, 2015 following the Centre's assurance to work on nine of the 12 demands put forward by the trade unions. The BMS has still not decided on joining the strike this year.
Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has opposed the strike and directed all employees to report to work on Sept. 2, adding that all vehicles would ply and shops would remain open.
"We are against bandh. A bandh means loss of thousands of crores of rupees a day. Those who lost the election and those who were rejected by the people have called the bandh which will harm people... We will keep everything open. Vehicles will ply and shops will open. If vehicles and shops are damaged (by bandh supporters), we will take strong action. We will also give compensation," Banerjee told reporters, adding that the state cannot afford a bandh when it is under a debt of Rs. 40,000 crore.
