Responding to the nationwide call by the Indian Railway Employees Federation (IREF) AICCTU and East Central Railway Employees Union (ECREU) held a protest at the Patna Junction complex on 20 June with placards and slogans of ‘Rail Bachao Desh Bachao’ (Save the Railways, Save the Country).
The protest was against the Modi government’s anti-worker policies; abrogation of 44 labor laws; imposing of 4 labor codes of Slavery; forcibly imposing the 12 hour working day; selling the railways and other national assets to national and international private companies; privatization, corporatization, NPS, retrenchment of workers, and suspension of DA. Railway employees demanded the revoking of these anti-worker laws; insurance of 50 lakhs for rail workers; ending the practice of contract-outsourcing; ending retrenchment of rail workers; and cutting down the rail work force by more than half.
The protest was led by AICCTU State General Secretary RN Thakur, Jitendra Kumar, Vishwa Mohan Prasad and RC Raut. Speaking on the occasion, the leaders said that the Modi government is using the Corona pandemic crisis as an opportunity for selling the country’s assets and resources to corporate houses and privatizing the public sectors, thus enslaving the workers and then calling this road to slavery ‘Atmanirbharta’ (self-reliance).
