These excerpts from an article by K R Shyam Sundar in the Mumbai Economic and Political Weekly (19 January) give information on the recent general strike in India.
The joint platform of Central Trade Unions comprising 10 unions conducted a general strike on 8 and 9 January 2019.
Since 1991, the CTUs have conducted 18 countrywide work stoppages and multiple forms of protests... apart from concerted strikes at the industry level, like banks, insurance, etc, against the economic and labour policies of the central government...
The macro protests have become frequent and also more inclusive. This is so in three senses, namely in mobilising workers from the unorganised sector like the domestic and anganwadi [rural childcare] workers, and street vendors; widening the struggle agenda; and in locating workers’ protests at various sites of social dialogue forums like the Indian Labour Conference (ILC), Parliament, the streets, etc...
The twoday strike is reported to have a guesstimated participation of 200 million workers [though the author reckons that the real figure would have been smaller].
The trade union movement is witnessing fissuring and fragmentation... A few trade unions... have walked out of the joint platform of Central Trade Unions...
The strike was seen to be overtly political for two reasons. It was sponsored by the labour wings of the political parties that constitute the opposition front to the government and it has reportedly received [Congress Party leader] Rahul Gandhi’s blessings....
Notwithstanding the cracks within the trade unions and in the unity forums, the angst and anger in the length and breadth of the working class movement cannot be denied. Trade unions, irrespective of their professed association with some front or the other, are unarguably against the policies of the government and hold almost common protest charters.
