Indian Trade Unions’ two-day strike to hit transport, banking
As fresh appeals were made on Tuesday to the trade unions to call of the strike, leading industry body Assocham warned that the economy would take a hit of between Rs 15,000 crore and Rs 20,000 crore due to disruption in economic activity.
The government renewed its appeal to the bank employees including from the RBI not to join the strike saying there is “really no reason” for them to go ahead with it.
Normal life is likely to be crippled in states like Kerala and Tripura where workers from various sectors including transport and banking are set to join the protest.
States like West Bengal, Kerala, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Haryana, Karnataka and parts of Uttar Pradesh are likely to be affected significantly, Assocham president Rajkumar Dhoot said in a statement in Kolkata.
Apart from unions owing allegiance to the Left, the pro-Congress INTUC and pro-BJP BMS are also participating in the strike.
The unions have put forward a charter of 10 demands such as urgent steps to control price rise, strict enforcement of labour laws in all places of work, social security net for workers in the unorganised sector, end to disinvestment in PSUs and raising minimum wage to Rs 10,000 a month.
