The Working Class in India is getting ready for an all-India Strike on 14 December 2006. The call for the strike was unanimously given by the Sponsoring Committee of Trade Unions in a national convention held at Mavlankar Hall, New Delhi, on 25 July 2006. Except for the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) and the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), all the central trade unions — The All-India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU), All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS), Trade Union Coordination Committee (TUCC), United Trade Union Centre-Lenin Sarani (UTUC-LS) and United Trade Union Centre (UTUC)  — participated in the Convention. Besides these unions, the Federations/Associations of employees and workers in Banks, central and state government offices/departments, Insurance companies, Railways, Civil Aviation, Defence, Posts, Petroleum, Telecom and other sectors as well as independent unions participated in the Convention.

The National Convention of Workers was called to plan for countrywide movements to intensify the united struggle against the anti-labour and anti-people policies of the UPA government.  Price rise, disinvestments, privatisation, ban on recruitment, outsourcing of work, contractualisation and labour law changes were the major issues of resentment for the working class. Participants expressed their unhappiness over the issues of unemployment and the delay in bringing a comprehensive Act for the unorganised and the agricultural workers.

After deliberating on the conditions of the workers in the country and the challenges confronting them, the participants decided to vehemently oppose all the anti-labour and anti-people policies of the government.

Comrade, W.R. Varada Rajan, Secretary, CITU said, “The steps initiated by the UPA government on disinvestment and privatisation spells doom for the future of the PSUs in India and will make the PSU worker ‘a vanishing tribe’.” According to him, the Finance Minister is trying to redefine the public sector from ‘wholly owned’ to ‘51 per cent’-owned by the government. “The Minister has even set a target of mobilizing Rs 1 lakh crores by way of disinvestments for his National Investment Fund. These are all unacceptable to the trade union movement,” he added.

“Another major issue of concern is the price rise of essential commodities,” said Comrade Amarjit Kaur, Secretary AITUC. “The prices for wheat, rice and cereals have tremendously shot up. Added to it is the oil price hike. The government policy of bringing down the PDS system has worsened the situation. The previous NDA government removed many items from PDS, and the present UPA government has followed a weakened procurement policy from the peasants,” she added. According to her, the production of wheat, rice and cereals were not low. Had it been low, the government should have taken immediate measures to check exports. The participants of the Convention felt that all policies in the agrarian sector as well as export and import had failed, resulting in the huge price hike.

The Sponsoring Committee of Trade Unions decided to hold meetings at sectoral levels from 16 August to 15 September 2006. A decision was taken to hold rallies and demonstrations on 20 September to mobilise participants for the general strike. According to the current plan, the strike notice will be issued jointly by all unions in their respective establishments on 29 November 2006.

Talking about the General Strike on 14 December, R.A. Mittal, Secretary, HMS, expressed his reservations on the changes a one-day strike could bring about. “Nothing very creative happened in the Convention,” he said. “The main intention of the speakers was to accuse the government and to provoke the sentiments of the people. None of them gave any definite views,” he added.  According to him, though the Declaration was distributed, it was not formally moved.

Rajeev Dimri, Secretary, AICCTU emphasised that the 14 December strike and the campaign which preceded it would continue till all the anti-labour policies are reversed. “The huge applause given to the speakers when they spoke against the UPA government’s anti-working class policies reflects how annoyed and irritated the masses are.” According to him, the working class will continue to resist the adamant attitude of the government to sell our country to the corporate houses and MNCs. The Convention also drafted a declaration elaborately depicting the challenges faced by the working class.