‘Bharat Bandh’ has been announced on Wednesday, July 8 in the country. It is expected that more than 25 crore workers ranging from banking, insurance, postal services to coal mining sector can join this nationwide strike on Wednesday. Calling by the joint platform of 10 Central Trade Unions, this strike has been named ‘Bharat Bandh’, which aims to protest against the central government’s “anti -labor, anti -farmer and anti -national and corporate policies”.
Trade unions have appealed to “make the nationwide general strike successful” in formal and informal areas, citing long preparations for months.
Amarjeet Kaur of All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) told the news agency PTI, “More than 25 crore workers and laborers are expected to participate in the strike. Farmers and rural laborers across the country will also be involved in this protest.”
What will open and what will be closed?
This nationwide strike is expected to have a serious impact on many big public service and industry. Harbhajan Singh Sidhu of Hind Mazdoor Sabha said that which service can be affected during this Bharat Bandh.
- Banking
- Post
- coal mining
- Factory
- State transport
What is the demand of the union?
There is a big reason behind this ‘Bharat Bandh’ that is the charter, which these universities had submitted to Labor Minister Mansukh Mandavia last year. There are 17 demands in this charter.
Unions claim that the government has ignored these demands and has not been organizing the annual labor conference for the last decade. He says that this attitude of the government shows his apathy towards laborers and workers.
In a joint statement, the forum alleged that the government’s labor reforms were created to abolish the rights of laborers, including the introduction of four new labor codes.
Unions argue that the purpose of these codes is to eliminate collective bargaining, weaken the activity of the union, extend the work hours and to protect employers from accountability under labor laws.
Protection opposition
The forum said that now the government is no longer a welfare for the workers and the workers and is working in the interest of foreign and Indian corporates, and it is clear from its policy and Kamagaz.
It states that trade unions are fighting against “public sector enterprises and policies of privatization of public services, outsourcing, contracting and workforce”.
The statement said that the purpose of the four labor code passed by Parliament is to suppress and cripp the trade union movement, increase the working hours, the rights of workers to talk about the rights, to snatch the right to strike and release the violation of labor laws by the employers.
Union leaders said that the United Kisan Morcha and the United Front of Agricultural Labor Unions have supported the strike and decided to mobilize largely in rural India.
Trade unions had earlier organized a nationwide strike on 26 November, 2020, 28-29 March 2022 and 16 February last year.