Functioning of banks, industrial units, ports and docks, public/private sector units, defence establishments and communications industries is likely to be affected on Tuesday as nine major trade unions, including the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), the labour wing of the Congress, have called for a strike to protest the rise in prices of essential commodities and the policies of the UPA government-II.
Besides the major trade unions, the federations of bank employees and insurance workers are also joining it.
Though the BJP's labour wing – Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) – is not part of the Joint Action Committee of the Central Trade Unions (CTUs) which have called for the strike, they are not opposing it, claimed leaders of the CTUs.
Besides the INTUC, the AITUC, the CITU, the HMS and the All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) are joining the stir to condemn inaction of the government on the genuine problems of the working class.
The other demands include: concrete measures to protect recession-stricken sectors by offering a stimulus package; strict enforcement of labour laws and punishment to those violating them; creation of a national fund for the unorganised workers to provide for social security; and dropping of the proposal to disinvest shares in the central public sector enterprises.
