Strike is Successful or not?
How can it be assessed?
How will you judge whether the strike of 2nd September 2015 is successful or a flop show?
These are some questions which come to minds of not only layman but also employees and workers who are associated with different Trade Unions of various sectors.
In organised sector , call of strike is given by Top leaders of Trade Union Body of each organisation and once the call is given , it is the duty of each staff not to attend duty and this tradition has been maintained blindly since long.
In such position , it is but natural that 100% of workforce remain on strike and all organisation participating in strike remain closed. Some of works who are not associated with Trade Union giving strike call are also not in a position to attend the duty because it is also a tradition of member of each Trade Union to extend moral support to call of other Trade Union.
Leader of any Trade Union do not think it necessary to collect the views of their members before taking decision of strike . None of them even collect their views after strike to know whether they participated in strike with will or without will.
It is seen that some members of various Trade Unions abuse their leaders , condemn strike, reprimand violence and do not at all want happening of strike. In brief, they are on strike ,even if they are totally against strike. They helplessly take part in strike, willingly or unwillingly. They have no option to express their opposing views and neither their leaders want to give value of such opposition. They too are habituated to take credit for strike and its success.
This is the beauty of Organised Trade Union system prevalent in various banks, insurance companies, coal companies, steel companies , railways etc. I can rather add here that this is the beauty of Parliamentary democratic system of India . I Parliament too, all Members of Parliament associated with one party are supposed to act as one entity , thy all either say Yes Or No to any bill as per dictates of High Command of that Party.
This culture has been imbibed in DNA of Indians from the very days of schools and colleges. During school days too, a student who could abuse teacher or principal , who could cry loudly for any cause, who could burn office fixures and furnitures to get their demand fulfilled used to be collectively selected as Monitor of the class and President of School Union. And once a monitor is chosen, none of remaining students had courage to oppose any action of the Monitor and if anyone did it by mistake, he or she had to face dire consequences. None of school management or police or administration will come to rescue to such opposing student. It is therefore always considered safe to follow blindly the line dictated by leaders.
This is the culture learnt from school days. Police are not to protect real cause and to punish the culprit or wrong doers. They are to support who are mighty and crush who are weak. Similarly when a political party or extremist group call for a Band , none of shop or factory, none of office goers , none of vehicle plyers will have the courage to come out in market , open the doors of their shop or start their factory work. It is always safe to keep oneself confined in the closed doors of home if there is 'market band' or 'Bharat Band' or 'State level Band' call given by any group or party. Participation is not as per choice but in fear of violence ,arson and repercussion which usually takes place in such bund, strike or organised protest.
All types of strike or market band has more or less become ritual. In fact even management of organisations or government do not take such strike or band as seriously as they are expected from strikers . If a trade union of a bank gives a call for strike for any right or wrong cause, all members associated with the Unions think it wise to remain on strike. As such 100% participation in strike does not mean absolute success of strike or 100% support from all members.
It is therefore necessary now to invent such a mechanism which may within minutes collect the opinion of all members to know whether they all or at least majority of them support strike or not. We have seen how TV media collect votes on any issue using SMS technology. Similarly Government should also evolve technology based voting system on each call of strike or political bund to assess the views of participating members .
Otherwise strikers will strike as a custom to prove their presence in the same way as political parties organise various Bands and conduct many rallys near the election to prove that they are active and people supportive. In fact they sleep all the days before announcement of election. Similarly Trade Union leaders more or less remain in deep slumber or in hibernation till any major issue arises , many times concerning their survival or their self interest.
I therefore urge Bank staff too to express their views in their forum so that their leaders cannot become dictators and cannot misuse their unity and solidarity with trade unions. Unity is powerful but misuse of power will prove fatal in long run.Democracy will otherwise become a playing toy in the hands of leaders to keep members hypnotised .
Similarly all political parties should be mandatorily asked to collect views of their members once in six months or in a year to prove their loyalty to the party. If it does not happen , leaders of political party will continue to fool their voters once they win the election.
Media men who are supposed to assess the pulse of market and who are supposed to know the reality of all strikers publish the news or broadcast the news on TV as per message collected from leaders of Trade Unions or their political masters. Obviously media people are also victim of Sheep culture. Media is no more fourth pillar of democracy, as it is supposed to be. Media also plays in the hands of mighty leaders or muscle men or are guided by whims and fancies of promoters of TV Channel or print media.
Click Here To Read Whether Strike of 2nd September Was Necessay And Desirable
CIRCULAR NO. 27/129/2015/40,
3rd September, 2015
To ALL UNITS AND MEMBERS
Dear Comrades,
We reproduce herein the text of the Joint Press Release from the
Central Trade Unions on the massive observance of the General Strike. It can be seen that the strike has been observed in many sectors and industries all over the country and we can legitimately feel proud that bank employees and AIBEA were a part of this historic protest against against the anti-worker policies of the Government.
Hence we greet our units and members not only for making the strike a success in the Banks but more importantly for being an integral part of the general trade union struggle in our country.
In the days to come when more and more challenges and attacks are on the anvil, our task should be to further remain integrated with the general working class of this country in all such common struggles.
C.H. VENKATACHALAM
GENERAL SECRETARY
Dated 2.9.2015
PRESS RELEASE
CENTRAL TRADE UNIONS CONGRATULATE THE WORKERS FOR UNPRECEDENTED STRIKE ON 2ND SEPTEMBER
It has been an unprecedented strike of millions of workers at the call of Central Trade Unions. Response has been as never before. It is the biggest strike ever in the country. This strike has been called by 10 Central Trade Unions. It has been supported by thousands of local unions, unaffiliated associations and federations. It is the largest unity of the trade unions that has done miracle. All sectors of the economy are affected. The strike received the all-out support of the people. The strike call was given against Govt. negative response to 12 point charter, the main among these being the aggressive steps being taken by the Govt. to amend labour laws in favour of corporates.
We congratulate and salute the gallant workers for their magnificent response. We expect Govt. to take lesson and take steps to ameliorate the grievances of the working masses. It must restart discussions with Central Trade Unions for concrete solution to the demands failing which the struggle will be intensified.
This strike has been so spread because of the growing discontentment among working people against anti-worker policies of the government. It is also a protest against food price rise and failure of the government to contain the slow-down of the economy leading to heavy retrenchment and informalisation.
The strike has been unprecedented in transport, Oil, Coal, Power, Bank, State Govt. employees, Insurance, Port & Dock, Defence, Postal, Telecom and automobile industries. Thousands of workers have been on street to make the strike as an excellent success. Delhi has also the impact of the strike.
The Central Trade Unions condemn the police action and atrocities by hooligans on the peaceful agitation by the trade union cadres for this strike in West Bengal. It is a state backed terrorism. We believe all the right thinking people of the country unitedly protest against the atrocities committed on the trade union cadres of West Bengal. Despite the terrorism sponsored by the state, the undaunted trade union activists have made the strike a success. We greet them.
There have also been lathi charge in different parts of the country. There have also been cases of intimidation by the police and arrest of workers. In some states, despite imposing ESMA, workers have moved forward undaunted to make this strike a grand success.
The Central Trade Unions condemn the reckless police action.
Statewise and sectorwise details are given as hereunder:
SECTORAL
Road Transport
In almost all the states workers of State Road Undertakings went on strike. Even Private road transport like autos and taxis are off the road. Roadways buses in Haryana, Delhi, Uttarkahand, Himachal, UP and other states are also off the road. Magnificent strike of transport workers affected the normal life of the people for which CTUs are sorry.
Defence
Defence production has come to a standstill. Nearly half a million ordnance factory and installation workers throughout the country observed today’s strike.
Banks & Insurance
Strike is 100% in financial sector. More than two millions workers both in public sector and private sector financial institutions went on strike.
Coal
Complete strike in coal mines. Even BMS workers joined the strike.
Non-Coal
Mines like in Iron Ore, bauxite, copper, aluminum and others was complete. The response was tremendous.
Steel Sector
The strike has been complete in most of the places in steel sector including first time strike in Bhilai plant.
Postal
The strike has been complete in postal department. Most of the States with workers/employees holding protest dharna/meetings outside the offices.
Oil Sector
The strike in oil sector was complete in almost all parts of the country. Supply of Aviation fuel to Airlines was affected leading to cancellation of some flights. LPG plants were completed closed in all parts of the country affecting gas supply.
Telecom
Nearly complete strike in BSNL throughout the country. Even BMS workers joined strike in BSNL.
Electricity / Power Sector
The Strike was almost complete in most of the states in power sector.
Tea Gardens in Eastern India and south India were totally on strike.
POSITION IN STATES
The strike was total in the states of Kerala, Assam, Goa, Telangana, Pondicherry, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, Manipur, Uttrakhand, Bihar, Chhatisgarh, and Jharkahand, as also msot all the sectors of Gov. and Public sector as well as Industrial areas were on strike. Several of these states even traders closed down their business and shops and so it became band like situation.
The strike was massive in the states of Punjab, Haryana, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu, Delhi & Meghalaya where some of the sectors were on hundred percent strike.
It was heartening to note that some of the establishments and industries have gone on strike after almost decades like in Bhillai, Iron Ore Mines, BHEL and some steel plants.
Most of the Auto and Taxis went off the road in Delhi & NCR as well as in several towns and cities in India.
Rail Roko also took place in several areas in various states.
INTUC AITUC HMS CITU AIUTUC
TUCC SEWA AICCTU UTUC LPF
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