Strikes hit home

The strikes by truck owners and by employees of public sector oil companies have brought back nightmares of the old era.

The strikes span both public and private sectors. The oilmen belong to the public sector and the truck owners to the private. So, it would not be easy to demarcate between the evil public sector and the virtuous private sector.

The truth is that strike has been turned into a useful instrument for getting the government to do what needs to be done. As Lok Sabha elections are due in April, it is understandable that different pressure groups want to wrench concessions out of the government.

The demands can be reasonable as well as unreasonable. But that does not seem to be the issue. What matters is the general perception that government responds only when there is a strike. 

The truth struck home only when traffic snarls choked city streets. As oil supplies ran out there was the real danger to urban life, as its lifeline — transportation — ground to a halt. Modern life hangs on a complex of web of connections, and if one of them were to snap the whole thing could fall apart.

The truckers’ strike too posed a similar threat. where supplies of perishables like vegetables and milk could be affected — very similar to the turning off the water and electricity connection. The ease of urban living hangs by a slender line.

It is quite easy to apportion blame. The oilmen and the truckers for resorting to a strike; the government for not being responsive at the right time and allowing the situation to get out of hand. But the problem goes deeper, to the culture of the polity which only addresses issues in an emergency, where there is enough justification for interested parties to create the emergency in order to be heard.

The government knew about the disaffection among oil company officials over the Sixth Pay Commission — why was no action to negotiate taken earlier?

Though the country has put behind it the nightmarish socialist era, the attitudinal changes have not happened.  Arbitration methods to resolve disputes are missing. The sermons of the liberalisation era have harangued against the evils of going on a strike, but attention is not paid to the mechanics of resolving problems.

Governments and politicians still seem to play a mischievous role  because they hold the powers to settle ordinary matters like rational duties to be paid and rational wages to be earned.

The idea that the economy is immune to political games turns out to be a myth. And the hard truth hits home in the face of a strike. These issues will get resolved in time, but not  before much hardship is caused to people. Sadly, there will be a next time and the same drama will be played out again.