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Essential services like banking and public transport may be impacted on Wednesday with 10 central trade unions (CTUs) going ahead with their one-day nationwide strike, even as the government appealed to them to call off the agitation. The BJP-backed BMS and NFITU have decided to boycott the stir.
While the 10 unions claim to have a strength of 15 crore workers in the public and private sector, several outfits representing informal sector workers also today announced their support to the strike.
The strike is getting a political colour, with the BJP government and the RSS-backed trade union BMS coming forward to dub the protest as politically motivated.
The other 10 Left-wing, Congress-backed and independent CTUs have stoutly denied the allegation and said trade unions do not function with a political motive. They cited the previous examples of 16 joint strikes, in some of which INTUC and BMS had together participated.
Little impactMeanwhile, Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya told reporters here today the strike will not have much impact on the public.
BMS general secretary Virjesh Upadhyay said the UPA government did not do anything to address the concerns of the workers despite four strikes taking place during its rule.
The Modi government, he said, took interest in reaching out to workers. “It was for the first time that a Prime Minister called us for a meeting. The group of ministers dealing with the matter held several discussions with the trade union representatives and announced their decision, accepting most of our demands,” he said. The BMS believes in responsive cooperation, and has urged the other CTUs to postpone the strike plan, he added.
Citing the BMS’ decision to withdraw from the strike call, the Labour Minister said workers have accepted the Centre’s decision to amend the Minimum Wages Act and strengthen the tripartite form of engaging employees and employers.
“I don’t think essential services will be affected by the strike. I feel the impact will not be much. I appeal to them to call off the strike in the interest of workers and the nation,” he said and appealed to the CTUs to withdraw from the strike.
The other CTUs, however, are confident the strike will be a success. They have reached out to BMS unions too, they claimed. A Left wing trade union leader said several BMS leaders are unhappy with the leadership’s decision to withdraw from the strike.
“They have extended informal support to us. In many places, they have not withdrawn the strike notices given to managements,” the leader said.
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