A National Convention of Workers held on 11 November in New Delhi has called for a two-day countrywide General Strike, dates to be declared later, as part of the “SAVE THE PEOPLE AND SAVE THE NATION” being conducted by central trade unions and all India Federations of workers and employees.
The unions has called upon the workers to take the message down to the masses through intense action programmes in the states and districts, factory gates to make the two days General Strike a massive success.
The workers’ convention criticised the central government which used the Covid pandemic period to push through the Labour Codes and the Farm Laws along with reckless privatisation drive that included outright sale of profit-making Public Sector Enterprises or leasing them out for a song through the National Monitization Pipeline, all these steps will have adverse consequences on common people. The convention demanded to curve price rise and lack of employment opportunities.
The convention was notably attended by the delegation of Samyukt Kisan Morcha in solidarity with the working class. The convention called upon the working masses to make a big success the day of 26 November 2021- first anniversary of historic farmer’s movement and the last general strike of working class.
Speakers in the Convention said that the destructive policies by the Govt. of India have brought the lives and livelihood of the entire people and the country’s economy to the brink of disaster. The Struggle now is not only to save the rights and lives/livelihood of people but also save the country’s economy and the entire democratic system and the society as a whole from disaster and destruction being engineered by the authoritarian forces in governance with the active support of private corporate, both domestic and foreign.
The reign of terror and hate that has been let loose by the RSS brigade masquerading under various garbs with the government’s patronage is tearing our diverse social fabric apart. The Convention reiterated the demands that have been made repeatedly such as : Scrapping the Labour Codes; Repeal of Farm Laws and Electricity (Amendment) Bill, No to Privatisation in any form and scrap the NMP; Food and Income Support of Rs 7500 per month to non-income tax paying households; Increased allocation for MNREGA and extension of Employment guarantee Scheme to urban areas; Universal social security for all informal sector workers; Statutory Minimum wage and social security for Anganwadi, ASHA, Mid-day-meal and other Scheme workers; Proper protection and insurance facilities for frontline workers serving the people in the midst of pandemic; Increase in public investment in agriculture, education, health and other crucial public utilities by taxing the rich through wealth tax etc in order to revive and revamp the national economy; Reduction in Central Excise duty on petroleum product and concrete remedial measure to arrest price rise, regularization of contract workers, equal pay for equal work, scrap NPS and restore old pension scheme etc.
