From
India News Network (INN)
ON 2ND SEPTEMBER 2015 JOINT COUNTRYWIDE
GENERAL STRIKE
Hemalata
The
working class of India went on a historic countrywide general strike on 2nd September 2015 protesting against the
anti worker and anti people policies of the BJP led government at the centre.
The workers of the country have responded to the call of the central trade
unions and independent industrial federations for general strike in an
overwhelming and magnificent manner. This general strike will remain a historic
milestone in the history of the trade union movement of the country. BMS, which
was part of the decision, withdrew a few days before the strike saying that it
was satisfied with the governments’ response. But, obviously, the workers of
the country were not.
The
special significance of this strike was the massive participation of workers,
both from the organised and unorganised sectors, public and private sectors,
women and men with great determination and grit. It is estimated that over 15
crore workers participated in the strike all over the country.
Through
this massive and magnificent strike the working class of the country
effectively rebuffed the attempts of the government to show itself as working
for the poor. The success of the strike reflected the anger, discontent and
disillusionment of the workers and employees against the brazenly anti worker,
anti people, anti national and pro corporate policies of the Modi led BJP
government, which came to power with their support a year ago. The working
class has totally rejected the fraud being committed on the workers by amending
the labour laws intended to push out more than 75% of the workers in the
organised sector alone out of the purview of any legal protection. The working
class made it clear that it is aware of the evil design of the government
proposals in amending the Factories Act, Minimum Wages Act, Payment of Wages
Act, Payment of Bonus Act, Industrial Disputes Act, PF Act, ESI Act etc whereby
it wants to legalise what was hitherto consider violations of labour laws.
Through this strike the workers emphatically asserted that they cannot be
cheated by assurances on minimum wages, bonus etc while amending the same set
of labour laws to push them out of their coverage. Through this strike
the working class warned the government that it was not going to tolerate such
fraud.
The
government used all sorts of tactics to scuttle the strike. It tried to create
confusion and mislead sections of the workers at the same time taking care not
to concede any demands raised by the trade unions. It constituted an
interministerial group of ministers which made a show of conducting several
rounds of discussions with the trade unions, without putting forth any concrete
measures. It issued press releases making false claims of acting upon several
points raised in the charter of demands. But except BMS, all the central trade
unions saw through the game plan and effectively rebuffed these claims. They
stood firm upon the call for the general strike reflecting the anger and
dissatisfaction of the entire working class at the grass root level. The
resentment among the workers was so severe that many grass root level unions
affiliated to BMS were also not ready to withdraw the strike notices served
earlier despite such instructions from their leadership above. In many places
the workers owing allegiance to BMS also participated in the strike.
The
government also resorted to threats and issued notices to central government
employees about not only of loss of wages but also of loss of service. NTPC
Ramagundam threatened of action under ESMA. The BPCL management approached the
Kerala High Court which directed that no strike should be called pending the
disposal of the petition, which was posted for 4th September. The police conducted a flag
march on the eve of the strike in Noida. In Assam, 1000 workers were arrested
on the day of the strike. Around 100 workers including CITU leaders were
arrested in Ahmedabad in Gujarat.
The
TMC government resorted to severe repression on the workers. Chief minister
Mamatha Bannerjee threatened to smash the strike at any cost. Workers were
attacked even while they were campaigning for the strike. TMC goons attacked
CITU activists with lethal weapons. In Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal, 175
tea garden workers along with their leaders Zia ul Alam, general secretary of
the All India Plantation Workers’ Federation, Sukhomoit Oran, and Manik Sanyal,
were arrested. In North 24 Paraganas district, CITU leaders Ramola Chakraborty,
Nandalal Bhattacharya and Soumen Chakraborty were brutally beaten up and 125
persons including a septuagenarian bye stander were arrested. 13 persons were
injured. Workers on strike were attacked in Durlabhpur of Bankura district; 5
workers were injured and 35 were arrested. CPI (M) offices in Murshidabad and
Birbhum districts were attacked and ransacked. Several people including Moinul
Hassan, former MP were beaten up and injured. The police arrested the victims
while allowing the TMC goons go scotfree. Ashok Bhattacharjee, mayor of
Siliguri was also arrested.
But
the workers were not deterred by these threats. All over the country including in
West Bengal, workers bravely participated in the strike in a massive manner
facing thee threats and attacks. They showed their determination not only to
fight for the protection of their own rights but also to save the public
sector, the self reliance of our country and national sovereignty.
In
several states, not only those states where the trade union movement is
traditionally strong like Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura, but in many others
like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh,
Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Karnataka, the industrial belt
of Gurgaon, Manesar, Dharuheda, etc, the strike turned out into a virtual bandh.
Though
detailed reports are not available from all the states, the reports that have
come from states indicate the magnitude of the 16th country wide general strike since the
advent of the neoliberal policies by the government of India.
Road
transport in many of the states came to a grinding halt with almost all
segments of road transport workers totally participating in the strike. There
was near total strike in state road transport corporations in Andhra Pradesh,
Telangana, Karnataka, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh,
Punjab, Rajasthan etc. Private passenger transport was totally affected in
Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, and Himachal Pradesh. Truck
operators joined the strike in several states including Andhra Pradesh,
Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, and several other states.
Auto
rickshaw workers participated in the strike en masse in most of the states
including Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu etc. In Delhi auto
rickshaws & taxis also remained off the roads and extended their support to
the strike.
This
time the strike was near total in most of the public sector undertakings in
different parts of the country with the massive participation of both the
permanent workers as well as the contract workers.
An
overwhelming 90% of coal workers participated in the strike. Strike was total
in Singareni Collieries. It was also total in 7 areas of ECL and 80% – 90% in
the remaining. It was total in Talcher in MCL and 80% in the rest of the areas.
Strike was near total, 90% – 95% in CCL and BCCL; 85% in WCL, 80% in NCL, 70% -
80% in SECL. In the Kolkata offices strike was 90%.
Strike
was very successful in the oil sector as well. It was 100% in all the work
locations of ONGC in Tripura, West Bengal and Assam; in other areas including
Mumbai offshore locations demonstrations were held with black badges. Strike in
Oil India was total throughout the country. More than 50% workers in Digboi
refinery in Assam went on strike while in Guwahati the regular workers went on
4 hours strike. All the contract workers in Digboi, Guwahati and Numaligarh
refineries were on total strike. In Chennai refinery, protest activities were
held by all workers. In BPCL Kochi both the regular and contract workers
participate totally in strike. In IOC, strike was total in the southern and
north eastern regions; it was successful in the northern region and partial in
the eastern region. In HPCL and BPCL marketing, strike took place only in West
Bengal. The strike was total in the IOC refilling plants and petrol points all
over Tamil Nadu.
The
strike also impacted the power sector. The participation of electricity workers
in the strike ranged between 30% and 80% in different states and utilities. All
the Powergrid employees in the six states in the southern region and all the
seven states of north eastern region were on strike.
Strike
met with mixed response among the steel workers. It was 100% in Vizag steel,
Visweswarayya Iron and Steel (VISL), 55% in Salem Steel, and partial in Bokaro,
Bhilai and Rourkela Steel plants among the permanent workers. In Durgapur,
Burnpur and ASP, strike had only marginal impact with over 20% participation.
However, strike was 100% among the contract workers in all steel plants and
near total in all iron ore mines.
In
both the units of NALCO in Odisha, the strike was near total.
In
BHEL Trichy, Ranipet, Haridwar, Jhansi and Bangalore the strike was near total.
50% permanent workers and all the contract workers joined in the strike in
BHEL, Hyderabad.
In
Hindustan Aeronautics, Bharat Electronics, BEML (Bharat Earth Movers Limited),
ITI in Karnataka, permanent and contract workers are on total strike. BEL
executives in Bangalore wore black badges. Altogether 50000 public sector
workers in Karnataka participated in the strike.
In
Hyderabad, strike was total in NMDC, HAL, BEL, HCL, and HMT Bearings; it was
90% in BHEL R&D and 50% in BHEL and 40% in BDL where all the casual workers
went on strike. There was no strike in Midhani, HMT and Praga Tools.
The
strike was total in insurance and near total in banks. Lakhs of central
government employees including in postal, income tax, audit and accounts,
atomic energy and various other departments participated in the strike. The
participation of state government employees was also massive. Except in Andhra
Pradesh and Telangana where they only expressed solidarity, in all the other
states, state government employees participated in the strike.
Strike
was also total in BSNL with over a lakh telecom employees participating.
Reports
show that defence production was seriously affected by the strike. Workers in
the defence units all over the country participated in the strike in a big way.
It was 85% in Trichy, and 75%-100% in different units in Avadi in Tamil Nadu.
Strike was almost total in DRDO Labs in Hyderabad.
Strike
was near total in most of the major ports in the country. It was total in
Chennai, Tuticorin, Visakhapatnam and near total in Mumbai, Cochin, Paradeep,
Marmagoa, Mangalore, Kandla, JNPT and Haldia ports and 60% in Kolkata port.
Private organised sector workers also
participated magnificently in the strike.
Gurgaon
industrial area witnessed massive strike. All the factories including those of
multinational corporations like Maruti and Honda in the entire industrial area
Gurgaon, Manesar, Banola and Dharuheda were closed with the workers going on
strike and holding massive demonstrations and rallies. Strike was near total in
all the industrial areas of Delhi, Ghaziabad, Noida & Hapur. Massive demonstrations
were held and effigies of the government were burnt in several industrial
centres.
In
Tamil Nadu, workers of major industries including multinational companies like
Ashok Leyland, Enfield India, Ennore Foundries, MRF, Eveready Industries, Sriram
Fibres, ATC Tyres participated in the strike fully. Lakhs of workers in
industrial clusters of small and medium factories in different parts of state
participated in the strike en masse. The garment manufacturing centre in the
state, Tiruppur witnessed a total strike with a bandh like situation
prevailing. In the cooperative textile mills, NTC mills, Dalmia cements, the
strike was total.
In
Karnataka workers of major multinational companies like Toyota, Volvo 2 units,
Bosch 1 unit, Kirloskar, Federal Mogul, ITC, joined strike fully.
Manufacturing
activity was totally stalled in Telangana with workers in all the 54 industrial
clusters in the state fully participating in the strike. The workers in the
industrial clusters of small and medium units of Indore and Gwalior in Madhya
Pradesh also participated in the strike
The
strike was total among the medical and sales representatives. Around 3 lakhs
medical and sales representatives all over the country in all the 344 local
units including the north eastern region participated in the strike as per the
preliminary reports.
Lakhs
of plantation workers participated in the strike, including in West Bengal
where they had to brave police repression. In the Terai and Doars areas of
Jalpaiguri district, only 8 tea gardens functioned normally out of the total
210 gardens. 175 tea workers including 100 women were arrested along with their
leaders. In Sonagachi gardens, workers successfully resisted the attempts of
the police to apply force. Strike in the plantations of Kerala and Tripura was
total. It was successful in Karnataka. It was partial in Assam and Tamil Nadu.
The
2nd September strike
crossed past records in the participation of the unorganised workers and scheme
workers. Hundreds of lakhs of workers including the head load workers in almost
all the states, the mandi workers, the rickshaw pullers, construction workers,
brick kiln workers, shop employees, beedi workers etc all over the country
participated in the strike on their demands of minimum wages and social
security. In most of the states mandis wore a deserted look.
Lakhs
of municipal workers, panchayat workers and local body employees participated
in the strike including the conservancy workers in major cities like Chennai.
More
than 20 lakhs anganwadi employees, an equal number of mid day meal workers,
around 4 lakhs ASHAs and lakhs of other scheme workers including the teaching
and non teaching staff of NCLP schools, para teachers under the Sarva Siksha
Abhiyan etc participated in the strike demanding recognition as workers,
minimum wages and pension and other social security benefits.
Massive
rallies were held at the local and district headquarters in several states in
which thousands of workers including large numbers of women workers
participated. Rallies though planned could not be held in some states like
Himachal Pradesh due to lack of transport.
A
very significant aspect of this strike was the total support from the different
toiling sections of the society and the common people, the peasants, the
agricultural workers, the artisans etc all over the country. The Bhoomi Adhikar
Andolan, a broad alliance comprising hundreds of organisations across the
country including the All India Kisan Sabha etc, the All India Agricultural
Workers’ Union, and the All India Kisan Mahasabha extended their total support
to the strike. Crores of people not only expressed their support to the demands
raised by the working class but also extended their solidarity by participating
in massive demonstrations, rail roko and rasta roko in many parts of the
country. A large number of them were women. The Left parties too extended their
full support to the strike.
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