Joint Committee of Trade Unions (JCTU), a platform of various trade unions working in different sectors, called upon people to actively participate in the nation-wide strike scheduled for September 2 and make it success.
Addressing a media conference here on Thursday, JCTU district convenor D.S. Sharanabasava appealed traders, workers, employees, farmers and other people working in different sectors to skip their routine work and participate in the rallies and agitations on the day.
“Union Government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is hell-bent on aggressively implementing pro-corporate policies that essentially mean serious blows to working masses. We, the working people, too are determined to defeat Modi’s efforts of corporate appeasement,” he said.
Sheik Sha Khadri, a CITU leader, condemned Union Government’s covert efforts to break the workers’ unity and prevent them from participating in the strike.
“Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had demanded national labour leaders to withdraw the strike-call for initiating the dialogue, but the latter did not agree for the withdrawal of strike as a prerequisite for negotiations. Nation-wide strikes had so far been observed at major cities, district headquarters. But, this time, even taluk headquarters, hobli centres and even villages would participate,” he said.
He called AMPC traders and general small retail traders to participate in the strike for opposing avengement to APMC Act and foreign direct investments in retail sector that hit both trading communities by allowing corporate players in their sectors.
N.S. Veeresh, AIUTUC district convenor, said that over 20,000 school-vehicles would stop services across the State to participate in the strike.
M. Ravi, general secretary of Insurance Employees Union criticised Union Government for having opened insurance sector to international capitalists.
“Hiking FDI cap to 49 per cent in insurance sector is a big blow for Indian economy. It would automatically allow the foreign capitalists, whose contribution to social investment is negligible, to gain control over people’s savings for multiplying their profits. The move would shrink the prospects of state-owned insurance companies and resultantly their social investments,” he said. He also opposed intensified disinvestment of profit-making PSUs under Modi regime.
Pranesh Mutalik of Pragati Krishna Gramin Bank Employees’ Union criticised Union Government for holding bank employees for everything that went wrong in the sector.
H. Padma, Basavaraj, Amareshwar and other labour leaders were present.
