Trade unions’ bandh gets a good response

Trade unions’ bandh gets a good response

 The bandh call by the Joint Committee of Trade Unions (JCTU), a platform of various trade unions in different sectors, as part of the nationwide strike called by 11 central trade unions in protest of the Union government’s “pro-corporate” and “anti-people” policies evoked a good response here on Wednesday.

Shops, hotels, garages, theatres, parlours trading units at APMC and other business establishments including all banks did not raise their shutters. Roads wore a deserted look in most parts of the district headquarter.

Though government offices functioned as udsual, they witnessed fewer activities.

Public buses operated by the North Eastern Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NEKRTC) remained off the roads as the employees actively participated in the agitation.

LIC employees skipped work and staged a demonstration outside the divisional office before joining the agitation at Ambedkar Circle and the protest rally. Postal services were hit as the employees joined the strike.

Educational institutions, including government schools and colleges, announced a holiday.

“In view of the strike, we have announced holiday for government schools today. We will run schools the whole day on Saturday to fill the gap,” A. Ramanjaneya, Deputy Director of Public Instruction, told The Hindu .

Policies condemned

Activists of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions, the All India Trade Union Congress, the All India United Trade Union Centre, the Insurance Employees Union, the All India Bank Employees Association, the BSNL Employees Union, the National Federation of Postal Employees, the National Federation of Telecom Employees and other left trade unions held a demonstration at Ambedkar Circle in the morning. They raised slogans against Union Government in general and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in particular.

Leaders of various trade unions in different economic sectors stressed on the adverse impacts of the Union government’s policies on their sectors.

The government’s attempts to allegedly weaken the labour laws, to grab farmers’ land to hand it over to the corporate class, to invite international capital for “plundering rich natural resources and exploiting cheap labour” and to suppress democratic voices were harshly condemned in the individual speeches of the labour leaders.

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