The one-day strike by 11 central trade unions on Tuesday affected life across Karnataka, including Bangalore, with shops, banks, factories, restaurants and cinemas shut and public transport curtailed as taxis and autorickshaws kept off roads.
More than 10,000 employees representing various unions, including those affiliated to All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) and bank employees took out protest rallies against the “anti-labour” policies of the UPA government, in front of Town Hall and Mysore Bank Circle in the city.
Roads that are otherwise choc-a-block with vehicles were almost deserted. Commuters, especially outstation travellers, had a tough time with autorickshaws staying off the roads.
Union rallies
Of the 11 national trade unions, members of eight unions across the state, including the AITUC, Indian National Trade Union Congress and Bharat Mazdoor Sangh took out peaceful rallies in Bangalore, Mysore, Mangalore, Hassan, Hubli-Dharwad, Belgaum, Gulbarga, Davangere, Koppal and Kolar.
“With bank unions and taxi and autorickshaw associations joining us, the strike demonstrated unity in the workforce, which has been reeling under unprecedented price rise, inequality, wage discrimination, exploitation and indifference of the state and central governments to our demands and grievances,” said CITU (Karnataka chapter) secretary S Prasanna Kumar.
“The government should take measures to bring prices of essential commodities under control immediately, reduce taxes on petroleum products, ban trading on futures, commodities, streamline public distribution scheme, reverse the amendment to APMC Act, abolish contract labour, ensure `10,000 per month as minimum wage and `3,000 per month pension to workers,” Kumar said.
Banking hit
While automatic teller machines (ATMs) across cities and towns enabled debit and credit card holders to draw cash, closure of state-run, private and scheduled banks paralysed transactions valued at crores of rupees.
“Among the demands of bank unions are that the Banking Regulation Act should not be amended to lower government equity holding in state-run banks. Foreign banks should not be allowed to have more share in Indian banks and insurance business should be regulated to protect interests of the Life Insurance Corporation and general insurance employees,” Kumar added.(With agency inputs)
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