Dear Comrades,
Eleven
central trade unions backed the strike call, posing a fresh challenge
to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his leftist administration, which
had called on the unions to call off the show of force.
"This is a
historic occasion. For the first time all the big trade unions have
come together to protest the anti-labour polices of the government," All
India Trade Union Congress general secretary Gurudas Dasgupta told AFP.
Among
the unions' demands are a national minimum wage, permanent jobs for 50
million contract labourers, more government efforts to rein in the
rising cost of living, and an end to the sale of stakes in profitable
public companies.
"We gave the government ample opportunity to discuss these issues. Now striking is the only option before us," Dasgupta said.
"We are fighting for our rights against a government that is anti-people," he added.
Singh's
government, already tainted by a series of high-profile corruption
scandals, has struggled to keep inflation in single digits at a time
when the economy is growing at its slowest rate for three years.
Transport, banking and postal services were all hit by the 24-hour strike that began midnight Monday.
In
Kolkata, a traditional trade union stronghold, most bank branches,
shops and other businesses were closed, with taxis and rickshaws staying
off the streets.
But the city's metro was working normally, and
West Bengal's firebrand Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who had
denounced the strike call, brought 1,000 state-owned buses into the city
to ease the transport problem.
Kolkata police chief R.K.
Pachnanda said 10,000 police officers had been deployed across the city,
including special units in government offices, bus depots and metro
stations to prevent intimidatory picketing by union activists.
The Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency said about 100 pro-strike
supporters had been arrested in different districts for obstructing rail
and road traffic.
In Mumbai, the financial capital of India, All
India Bank Employees Association general secretary Vishwas Utagi claimed
there was a "complete shutdown" in the banking sector.
The
clearing house for transactions at the central bank had been shut, "so
the private and foreign banks where we do not a have a presence, also
get affected," he told Press Trust of India agency.
Elsewhere, the
state government, railways and the city public bus service employees
were largely unaffected, while schools and colleges were open.
In
New Delhi, traffic was lighter than usual and people arriving at the
capital's main railway station struggled to find transport to other
areas of the city.
Just a couple of staff had reported for work at
a branch of the Bank of India, a public bank, in the centre of the
capital which was open, but no business was being carried out.
"We are backing the protest because the demands are legitimate," said one bank clerk who had reported for duty.
Business lobby group ASSOCHAM condemned the strike and said losses could be up to 100 billion rupees (2 billion dollars).
"Industrial
strikes cause huge losses to the national exchequer and should not be
there as the country strives to achieve 9 percent GDP growth in the
coming years," secretary general D.S. Rawat said in a statement.
G.
Sanjeeva Reddy, president of the Indian National Trade Union Congress,
affiliated to Singh's Congress party, said it was time the government
lent them an ear.
"Our most important demand is the abolition of contract labour and a check on the uncontrolled increase in prices," said Reddy.
"We will study the reaction of the government to this strike before deciding on our future course of action," he told AFP.
Down
south in the state of Kerala, the Congress-led state government
enforced "dies non" (no work-no pay) order against the employees, PTI
said.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hXRaZPhWbbjK_Fnd27FUvNE8EI9A?docId=CNG.cfcd37cf53571fe3837c4aed03e3a309.7c1
