Trade unions urge people to join nationwide stir on January 8

Central trade unions on Monday urged civil society to take part in the nationwide strike called jointly by them on January 8 against the "anti-labour policies" of the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre.

The 24-hour strike called by all major trade unions will start at 12 AM on Wednesday, Elamaram Kareem, state general secretary of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions said.

"National trade unions and organisations of government employees, bank, insurance employees jointly have called for a national strike... This is against the anti-labour policies of the Modi government.

We are raising many demands including fixing of the minimum wage for all workers at Rs 21,000 per month," Kareem said.

At a joint press meet here, trade union leaders of all parties other than BMS, which is affiliated to the BJP, claimed that all labour laws were being amended in favour of the employers.

Kareem said the strike was also against privatisation of all major public sector undertakings of the country.

Trade unions INTUC, AITUC, HMS, CITU, AIUTUC, TUCC, SEWA, AICCTU, LPF, UTUC along with various sectoral independent federations and associations are taking part in the nation-wide strike.

Kareem claimed that "anti-labour" policies of the Central government were affecting around 80 crore people of the country working in the organised and unorganised sectors.

The leaders also urged workers in shopping malls also to express solidarity with the strike.

"The country is going through a major crisis. We request everyone to close shops and join the protest," Kareem said.

Essential services including the press besides tourism industry and Sabarimala devotees have been exempted from the purview of the strike, they said.