The Malabar Chamber of Commerce and the Calicut Chamber of Commerce and Industry have requested the trade unions to exempt merchant outlets from the nation-wide strike declared to be held on Thursday. They also requested the unions to consider withdrawing the strike.
The Malabar Chamber pointed to the dire situation faced by merchants in general due to COVID-19, floods and several other factors for the past few years and requested the unions not to go ahead with the strike. The COVID-19 lockdown and the subsequent declaration of containment zones had taken a toll on business in general and the strike would add to it. Daily wage workers, who had lost quite a large chunk of their income due to COVID-19, would once again lose a day’s wage due to the strike, the chamber said in a press release.
The Calicut Chamber said that though “bandh” had been banned, the phenomenon took place in different names and was always caused trouble to the business community and the general public. This would bring down the domestic production rate of the State and cause loss of working days. “It is the responsibility of the government to ensure that public life is not disrupted in such strikes,” Calicut Chamber president Subair Kolakkadan said in a press release.
The national strike has been declared by 10 trade unions in the country against the Central government’s policies such as privatisation of public sector units and new labour and farm laws. Several organisations of government and non government employees have expressed solidarity with it. Strikes usually have very little effect in other States but often turn into a complete lockdown in Kerala.
