India's 10 central trade unions are on a one-day nationwide strike Wednesday September 02,2015

 

India will witness a nation-wide strike on Wednesday September 02,2015, as 10 central trade unions have decided to protest against the labour reforms proposed by the NDA government.

The Bharat Bandh, which will be observed against the central government's proposed amendments, will affect normal life across the country as it will cover all public and private sectors except the Railways.

 

"All services, except railways, will be affected including banks, transport, civil aviation and gas and oil supply. It will be a peaceful strike,"told AITUC general secretary Gurudas Dasgupta

The all-India hartal was announced in July after talks between Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya and 11 trade union leaders hit an impasse. Although the government agreed to some of the demands, the trade unions declined to called off the strike, saying that the Centre had nothing concrete to offer.

However, trade union Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), which is backed by the Bharatiya Janata Party, has withdrawn from observing the all-India strike.

BMS General Secretary Virjesh Upadhyay said the hartal will not affect power, oil and gas supplies.
"A large number of public sector undertakings who are members of central trade unions are not going on strike tomorrow. Thus, the services like power, oil and gas supply will not be affected

However,the Left-backed AITUC, CITU and the Congress-backed INTUC have urged BMS to ignore political affiliations and rejoin the all-India bandh.

"The impact of BMS pullout will be minimal on the strike on September 2. The decision of BMS is political," told AITUC general secretary Gurudas Dasgupta

The strike will also hit banking operations across the country as most of the banks, barring State Bank of India, will participate in it. However, since ATM machines are managed by third-party private firms who will not be part of the nationwide strike, normal cash withdrawal by consumers will not be impacted much.

Transport unions of the country too have been protesting over the proposed Road Transport and Safety Bill. 

Government-owned non-life insurance companies also announced that they would support the bandh on Wednesday.

Demands of the Trade Unions

Trade unions have called this strike over a 12-points charter of demands, including withdrawal of the proposed changes in the labour laws and stopping the disinvestment and privatization of PSUs. 

• demanding that the government dump plans to sell off stake in state-run companies

• opposed to the government's proposed labour reforms expected to diminish the influence of trade unions and make the labour market more flexible

Auto drivers on strike in the Delhi

Commuters and office goers were stranded on the Delhi city road as a large section of auto-rickshaws and taxis went on a strike in order to protest against a new scheme launched by the AAP government for low-fare taxis.

Normal life partially affected by strike in West Bengal

Normal life is partially affected in West Bengal today following the country-wide general strike called by 10 central trade unions against the policies of the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre.
 Train services of southeastern railway are normal although eastern railway officials said suburban services in the Sealdah south section were hit for sometime in the morning due to blockade at some places.

 According to estimates, around 3 lakh workers in the industrial belt of Pune region would be on strike and a similar number in the Gurgaon-Manesar belt. Vishnupant Nevale, member of the Pune Action Committee that is coordinating between various unions in the region, said 60,000 to 80,000 workers will directly participate in the strike