Banking, transport and postal services were hit on the second day of the all-India strike called by trade unions. Production was also affected in the Dharuhera and Manesar-Gurgaon industrial belts in Haryana, which house many multinational companies.
The strike, which saw widespread violence in Noida on Wednesday, was largely peaceful on Thursday. However, in West Bengal, a panchayat worker’s ear was chopped off for participating in the strike, allegedly by Trinamool Congress workers. Warning the Government of the emergence of a “new social force”, central trade union leaders declared their united action as “unexpectedly successful” at a press conference here on Thursday.
“This is the first time in the country’s history that workers unions of all hues have come together on common demands,” said B.N. Rai, General Secretary, Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh.
AITUC leader Gurudas Dasupta said the action would not end here.
“Many independent unions, such as Caparo, Sovel and ATC Tyre in Tamil Nadu, joined the strike today. Several international federations and unions in Cyprus, Greece, Spain, Japan, Portugal, Italy etc have also extended support,” he said.
Hinting at broad international solidarity in future, Tapan Sen, General Secretary, CITU, said “Workers across the globe are affected by the austerity drive and job losses. We will broaden the platform for future struggles.”
In response to industry estimates of Rs 20,000 crore losses caused by the strike, Sen said industry bodies should first calculate the lakhs of crores that they owe to the Government as non-performing assets lying with banks as well as the revenue foregone due to tax holidays and bail-out packages.
All the 11 trade unions said they would appeal to political parties to support their demand for a discussion on their demands in Parliament to ensure that the Government does not “bulldoze” economic reforms that hurt the people, leading to price rise and job losses.