11 central trade unions to go on nationwide strike on September 2

NEW DELHI: The 11 central trade unions will go on a nationwide strike on September 2 against the anti-worker policies of the government, defying the attempt of the government to address the issues of trade unions through an inter-ministerial committee comprising of the five key ministers of the Narendra Modi government.

This is a big blow to the series of labour reforms of the BJP-led NDA government as the trade unions have agreed upon more such frequent strikes unless the government reverses it's decision on the recent labour law amendments, opening up of FDI in key sectors, etc.


This declaration from trade unions, representing 47 crore of the country's workforce, comes on the first anniversary of the government which claims to be working on the towards welfare of the workers.

The decision to this effect was taken at a national convention of workers on Tuesday that saw participation of 11 central trade unions including the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, the Indian National Trade UnionCongress, All India Trade Union Congress, Hind Mazdoor Sabha, Centre of Indian Trade Unions, All India United Trade Union Centre, All India Central Council of Trade Unions, Trade Union Coordination Committee, United Trade Union Congress, Self-Employed Women's Association of India and Labour Progressive Federation.

Besides, there are representatives from key sectors like banking, insurance, defence, railways and others.

Trade unions have been resisting several changes made to the existing labour laws besides attempts to introduce new laws, saying that the government is rushing through bills such as the Industrial Relations Code, Small Factories and Employees' Provident Fund in the name of ease of doing business and boosting 'Make in India' programme.

The crucial 10-point agenda of the trade unions includes demands such as government steps to deal with issues like price rise, unemployment, universal social security cover for workers and disinvestment of public sector undertakings.

The Prime Minister's Office had on Sunday constituted an inter-ministerial committee comprising of finance minister Arun Jaitley, petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan, power minister Piyush Goyal, labour minister Dattatreya and minister of state in PMO Jitendra Singh. This decision was conveyed by Dattatreya through a letter to all trade unions.