Ahead of the nation-wide strike call on September 2, the central trade unions on Friday accused the Centre of trying to “divide” workers.

Expressing dismay that the Group of Ministers (GoM) set up to look into their 12-point demand charter had a “negative attitude” towards their demands, the 10 unions said this was clear by the fact that not even a single meeting had been held with them so far.

“The GoM has only been talking to the RSS-backed Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), which has not joined the strike call,” they said in a joint statement, adding that the Centre’s move was to “create confusion” among workers.

On August 16, BMS had said that the GoM, led by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, had invited them for talks.

It may be recalled that last year, too, BMS had pulled out of the general strike called by 10 central trade unions to protest against “anti-labour laws, privatisation, growing contracterisation, limitless foreign direct investment in sensitive sectors, such as defence, railways, banks and insurance and higher minimum wages” among 12 demands.

“The desperate bid by the Central and some State governments to change labour laws is basically designed to throw even the majority of organised workers out of coverage and purview of basic labour laws,” the unions said.

The unions, including Congress-backed INTUC, Left-backed CITU, AITUC, Hind Mazdoor Sabha and Self Employed Women’ Association, said they had been conducting month-long campaigns across the country​, claiming ​widespread response from workers across sectors.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW