One of the world's largest ever strikes began at midnight on Monday 27th Feb and will end at midnight tonight. Up to 100,000,000 Indian workers from different sectors and industries are calling for a national minimum wage, permanent jobs, and much more.
As reported by libcom blogger working class self organisation in January:
Over a dozen of India’s largest trade unions have called for and signed up to the strike. The strike will affect many sectors, including public sector banks, ports and docks, railways, insurance, road transport, energy workers, miners, and aviation workers.
“Recent months have seen a mounting wave of militant worker struggles in India, strikes for union recognition in India’s expanding auto sector, including a two-day occupation of a Hyundai plant, a wildcat strike by Air India personnel, and walkouts by telecom workers and coal miners against the central government’s privatization plans.”
The different unions have a variety of different demands, they include gaining the same rights and protection for temporary and contract workers that permanent workers have, raising and extending the minimum wage, resisting the attacks on trade unions, stopping price rises, the creation of a national social security fund, increase in pensions, and combating corruption.
The workers are demanding a national minimum wage, permanent jobs for contract labourers, social security for informal labourers, pensions for all workers, intervention by the government to stop the rising costs of living, and to end the sell off of publicly owned companies amongst other demands.
Transport, postal services and banking have all been hit by the strike which involves around a dozen unions, with a 'complete shutdown' of banking in Mumbai being reported. Police have been deployed to try to prevent 'unlawful' picketing, with 100 arrests made this morning for obstructing traffic.
Comments
On the claim of this being
On the claim of this being the world's biggest ever strike, it is also claimed that 100 million went on strike in India back in 2010. Unions at the time declared this the biggest strike since independence thus implying that there may have been bigger strikes under British rule…
http://www.imfmetal.org/index.cfm?c=23927&l=2
it's still pretty cool though
Steven. wrote: it's still
Steven.
This being the salient point ;)
Belfast Telegraph says 5,000
Belfast Telegraph says 5,000 smaller unions have joined the strike.. http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/india-hit-by-strike-over-inflation-16123697.html
basically all nationwide
basically all nationwide trade union confederations with the exception of the pro-Congress INTUC and a large number of mostly state-wide, local and factory unions are taking part, even the BJP-union BMS (on paper the largest union in India) has called for a strike ... an overview about the political affiliation of unions in India: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_unions_in_India
Who will meet those demands?
Who will meet those demands? The workers themselves, of course, when they seize what they have struck, then form Workers' Councils to restart the economy, putting the 1% out of work. Unless and until that happens, it will be "business as usual."
admin, no flaming, especially
admin, no flaming, especially of new posters
New poster mate, sounds like
New poster mate, sounds like they're from Occupy. I agree that a really simplistic way of looking at things, but we're far better off engaging with that person.
http://www.europe-solidaire.o
http://www.europe-solidaire.org/spip.php?article24417
We will destroy the planet if
We will destroy the planet if Labor is not sovereign everywhere. I submit, plunder is groundless and only leads to further 'breaking', this is why the planet is melting.
neolibequlsplndr wrote: We
neolibequlsplndr
[youtube]EjmtSkl53h4[/youtube]
neolibequlsplndr wrote
neolibequlsplndr wrote -
not sure what this means.. you sound a bit like a concerned pirate. Can you expand please?
is there any post-strike
is there any post-strike estimate of the number of strikers?