Nationwide strike is the beginning of total unity of workers, farmers

The call for a nationwide strike on November 26-27, 2020, by the workers, joined by the farmers, against the injustices imposed by the ruling regime was given on October 2, the day when the entire country celebrates the Jayanti of Mahatma Gandhi. It was also the time when centenary celebrations of All India Trade Union Congress were nearing their zenith. The very step symbolises the maturity of the class as irrespective of their affiliations, they have almost spontaneously initiated the struggle in which farmers from rural areas have also joined them.

The call given by central trade unions and the farmers organisations all over the country to carry on the struggle forward against the injustices is the near ultimate of the process once unleashed a century back. The toiling masses have not betrayed the heritage they have imbibed. They have carried the strikes and struggles wider as they had done in one of the glittering examples of their undaunted spirit as in 1928, when seventy thousand textile workers, organised as Girni Kamgaar Union, went on strike for no less than six months, and every morning of this struggle, they had meetings, discussions and lectures by renowned trade unionists. These were the same workers who organised ten years later along with people of the city, the first ever in the world, anti-fascist demonstration on the streets of Bombay.

Through generations, working class has evolved in stages and knows when to rise in protest and what to preserve. The challenges have been getting formidable now since last several years with capitalism turning a new leaf, called finance capital. Consequences have followed with GDP growth rate falling to -24 percent. The entire country is in the grip of a deep economic crisis. Production is almost going to scraps, investment is absent as medium and small entrepreneurs are almost losing their roots on the insecure grounds of country’s economy.

The demand for minimum wages, for employment, for education and health services have been rebuffed brutally in a situation when there is an unprecedented fall in employment opportunities. In the midst of the starvation and impoverishment, there is the inexplicable profit for Mukesh Ambani, one among the richest in the world, of 34 percent even in the days of lockdown when huge sections of migratory workers, losing their jobs, were walking for thousands of miles towards their roots, where again the same sufferings awaited them. Soon they realised that there is a vicious circle, since after coming back, there was no job. If at all it was available, the salary was not enough.

The fruits of the struggles were taken back as there were amendments in labour laws on salaries, absence of regularity in availability of jobs, contract labour without any security. The list is long. But the ultimate came on November 21, 2020, when the newspapers carried the news that the Central government has published draft rules for the Code on Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions, passed most undemocratically in September, 2020 Session of the Parliament, when none of the opposition MPs were present. Going by this experience, this "45 day consultation exercise" may also be just an eyewash.

AITUC is shocked at the audacity of this government in suggesting a 12 hour shift in spite of the recent Supreme Court judgment striking down a similar provision introduced by Gujarat’s BJP government. It is also a contravention of the very first ILO Convention (Hours of Work (Industry), 1919 (No. C001), which is still in force ratified by the government.

All these negative steps have only added to the resolve of working class to further intensify the efforts for the nationwide strike on November 26. AITUC, the oldest organisation of the working class, with a glorious past of great struggles, has demanded “Immediate removal of 12-hour factory work from OSH &WC (Central) Rules, 2020”.

The struggle unleashed on November 26-27 will go to the annals of history, not only because they rose valiantly, braving the severe cold, facing the atrocities that are aimed to stop them wherever they are, from arriving at the capital, but also because they have built an unprecedented unity of most of the sections joining the strike. Foremost of them are the farmers who are also pushed to the limits as the three acts have been passed taking away their hard won gains. These are firstly the Farmers’ Produce, Trade and Commerce (Promotion and facilitation) Act, 2020, Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, and finally the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020. These were drafted as bills and were declared as passed in the Parliament violating all the democratic norms.

It is no more unknown to the masses in whose services the government has been acting. They have realised it at their own peril which is particular as well as general. Hence the unity is broader, and always evolving.