Reportedly lakhs of workers will be part of an all-India general strike called by central trade unions on wednesday, january 8. Meanwhile the strike had seen participants from across the country, including government employees, bank employees, teachers and workers from various sectors such as steel and railways. Furthermore workers stayed away from work to protest the anti-labour policies of the narendra modi government and to press for their demands.
Furthermore according to Maitreyi Krishnan, a lawyer working with one of the unions, the main demand is that the government drop the proposed labour reforms. She said that there are objections to the amendments in the labour law, and that these should be scrapped. Apparently a bill introduced in the lok sabha proposes to merge 44 labour laws into four codes wages, industrial relations, social security and safe working conditions.
Moreover as per report bank employees central, cooperative, regional rural and the life insurance corporation of india belonging to bank unions have also participated in the strike. According to indian Banks' Association (IBA), six bank unions went on strike. According to Live Mint, banking services, especially ATMs and branch services, was affected to a greater extent. Perhaps the Telegraph reported that the union leaders said none of their concerns that were brought up was discussed at the meeting, and hence, they went ahead with the strike peacefully.
