New Delhi: Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) congratulates the workers for their magnificent response and overwhelming participation on the first day of the two days of a general strike called by the Joint Platform of Central Trade Unions, Independent Sectoral Federations/ Associations on 28th & 29th March 2022. Hundreds of millions of workers participated in the strike and millions joined the demonstrations held today all over the country. This historic strike call was given not merely to the immediate demands of the workers but against the anti-national destructive policies of the Central government, the party said in a statement.
This General Strike turned into a bandh in many states, particularly in Kerala and Tripura, and also in several districts of Tamilnadu, Haryana, West Bengal, and Assam as public transport, both government and private, came to a halt. Thousands of people participated in the road/ rail blockades in numerous places. Factories, shops, offices, and commercial establishments wore a deserted look. In all major industrial centers and hubs across the country, the strike was massive. Despite the threats like promulgation of ESMA, eight-day wage cut notices, etc, the working people responded massively to the call of CTUs to save the people; save the nation, the statement added.
As per the reports received from different states and industries up to the afternoon of 28th March 2022, the strike was observed in a massive way in the major industrial centers in Maharashtra, Tamilnadu, West Bengal, Delhi, Telangana, Karnataka, and Haryana. At the Tuticorin VOC Port and Paradip Port, the strike was total and it was substantial in other areas. The PSUs like Vizag Steel and BHEL units at Trichy and Ranipet were paralyzed due to the strike. In the coal mining sector, the strike was more than 60% on average with Singareni Collieries in Telangana witnessing almost 100 percent strike. Strike in Power Grid was unprecedented; 100% strike in Southern Region II covering Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Puducherry, and in the North Eastern Region covering 7 states – Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, and Tripura, and Eastern Region II covering Odisha, Sikkim and West Bengal. The oil/Refinery sector, LPG plants also witnessed massive strike action in Assam and all the northeastern states and also at Kochi and Mangalore.
The strike was total in the insurance, massive in banks. There was massive participation of the central and state government employees in the strike throughout the country, particularly in postal, income-tax, and other major departments. State government employees’ strike was also substantial in Kerala, Haryana, Punjab, Tripura, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, and Bihar and partial in other states. BSNL workers also joined the strike in large numbers.
The strike in the private manufacturing units in Bengaluru industrial areas like Bommasandra, Bidapi, Peenya, Whitefield, Hoskote, Dabaspet industrial areas (Karnataka) – the strike was total. Similarly, Cherlapalli industrial area near Hyderabad was totally closed. MNCs like Sandvik and Toshiba in Telangna also witnessed a complete strike. In the industrial areas of Tamilnadu including Chengalpattu, and Kanchipuram also, the strike was almost total. Road Transport including public transport, auto, taxi, Ola, and Uber was not plying in many states.
The power loom and spinning mill workers in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu, and Haryana joined the strike almost entirety.
Crores of unorganized sector workers, including construction workers, beedi workers, head load workers, private transport workers struck work and participated in the demonstrations. Around 80 lakh scheme workers including Anganwadi, ASHA, and mid-day-meal workers played a frontline role in making the strike in the concerned sector almost total. Shop employees, traditional sector workers including plantation, coir workers, etc, participated in the strike in a big way. These striking workers continued day-long road blockade and rail-blockade demonstrations in numerous locations throughout the country giving the general strike greater visibility. Peasants and agricultural workers along with the members of various mass organizations also participated in those blockade demonstrations. In several states, the rural hartal was observed by the peasants and agricultural workers
It is expected, the strike is going to be even bigger on the second day, on 29th March 2022. While congratulating the working class again for their huge response, CITU calls upon the working class to make the second day’s strike even more massive reflecting their anger against the devastating anti-people and anti-national policies of the Modi-led BJP government of corporate-communal nexus at the Centre. This is necessary to Save the Nation and Save the People.
