A nationwide strike called by central trade unions saw a mixed response across India, impacting various sectors and states differently, with some areas experiencing disruptions while others remained largely unaffected.
'Raising the retrenchment, layoff and closure threshold to 300 workers for prior government permission enables hire-and-fire in more than 90 per cent of the Indian workplaces. More than 12,00,000 disputes are now pending for adjudication with an average disposal period ranging from 3 to five years for more than 75 per cent of the disputes.'
Over 25 crore workers across India are set to strike against new labour codes and privatisation, potentially disrupting banking, postal, and other essential services.
A nationwide strike called by trade unions to protest against the central government's labor policies had a mixed impact across India. While normal life remained largely unaffected in most parts of the country, some sectors like banking, transport, and insurance experienced disruptions. Sporadic incidents of violence were reported in West Bengal.
The editorial came amidst the ongoing tussle between Arlekar and the Marxist party-led Left Democratic Front government over the usage of 'Bharat Mata portrait' during official functions being held in Raj Bhavan.
The discord between the Samsung workers affiliated to the Samsung India Thozhilalar Sangam and the company management over wage hike has been amicably resolved with the company agreeing to increase the wages, Tamil Nadu Labour Minister C V Ganesan informed on Monday. Noting that employee welfare remained a top priority for it, Samsung India said the company 'constructively engaged' with all its workers at the Chennai plant and was delighted to announce a mutual agreement to enhance wages and benefits for the next three years.
Workers' strike at Samsung Electronics plant at Sriperumbudur entered 30th day on Tuesday with no end in sight as Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), the union leading the charge, claimed that its major demands are yet to be fulfilled. This is despite the company agreeing to pay a special incentive to the employees.
Although the company has shown willingness to talk to its workers and accept their key demands, it is CITU that is causing a roadblock to a solution.
According to CITU, around 90% of the 1,723 workers of the Sriperumbudur plant are participating in the strike. Samsung said it is ready to talk to employees and not a third party like CITU.
'Samsung declared they would not allow the presence of any trade union.' 'This is unacceptable as the rule of law in India permits employees to have a trade union.' 'So, the crux of the strike is this.'
Appliances and consumer electronic major Samsung has welcomed trade body CITU's decision to call off over one month long strike at its Tamil Nadu-based plant and said it would not take any action against workers who merely participated in the strike. Samsung India also thanked the Tamil Nadu government, which held extensive discussions with the concerned parties at various stages, according to a company statement.
IPO bound HMIL, which is also from South Korea, had faced severe labour unrest for nearly a decade till the realisation -- a worker's union cannot be avoided -- dawned on it.
Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya urges state government 'to intervene for an early and amicable resolution for maintaining a positive manufacturing sector ecosystem'.
Employees were told to return to work from Monday onwards for a fresh start for improved production.
The Special Economic Zone concept represents another form of "Zamindari" system, Kali Ghosh, general secretary, CITU West Bengal Committee, said on Monday.
It was a protest which held a mirror to the government of a state taking pride in its commitment to democracy, gender equality and social indices.One person, who in his employed days had known governments and political parties at close quarters, told me that public perception of how the Kerala government handled the ASHA workers' strike had been terrible, reports Shyam G Menon.
As the strike by Samsung Electronics employees in Sriperumbudur on the outskirts of Chennai entered its 16th day, the company on Tuesday claimed that it is paying 1.8 times of the average salary that manufacturing workers in the region are getting. "At Samsung India, the welfare of our workers is our top priority. "The average monthly salary of our full-time manufacturing workers at the Chennai plant is 1.8 times the average salary of similar workers employed at other companies in the region,"a Samsung statement said.
With uncertainty prevailing over the rates of Employees Provident Fund, CPI(M)-backed trade union, Centre for Indian Trade Unions, said on Friday that it would oppose any move to keep differential interest rates
Samsung India is willing to sign a long-term wage settlement and negotiate directly with its workers for an amicable resolution of the dispute, the company's lawyer said on Friday, terming the ongoing employees' strike at the Sriperumbudur plant "illegal". Lawyer Anand Gopalan, who is representing Samsung India in the high court of Chennai and the Kanchipuram District Court, said the company would only negotiate with its workers and not with any third-party leaders.
The grand old party alleged that these namesake candidates are backed by the Communist Party of India-Marxist and the Bharatiya Janata Party to confuse voters.
CITU on Thursday strongly opposed the proposal of Sterlite Group acquiring the remaining 49 per cent stake in Balco, saying the NDA government struck the previous deal for a "pittance" and the matter should be investigated.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist)-affiliated Centre of Indian Trade Unions on Wednesday demanded that the 9.5 per cent interest for the over 3.2 crore provident fund subscribers be retained.
Former West Bengal chief minister and a front-ranking Marxist leader Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee will go down in the country's history as a pragmatic communist who kept aside his ideological convictions to woo capital for the industrialisation of his state.
'Not even in my wildest dreams did I think I would write a book one day.'
A decision on the interest rate for close to 60 million active subscribers of the Employee Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is likely to be taken in the next Central Board of Trustee (CBT) meeting, starting on March 25. A letter from the social security organisation regarding the convening of the 233rd CBT meeting was sent to all the board members last week, soliciting their presence in the meeting. Although the venue and the agenda haven't been drawn out yet, sources familiar with the matter say that the interest rate is unlikely to go below 8 per cent level amid a rising interest rate scenario across the globe.
Bank strike continued for day-two on Tuesday, led by nine unions of public sector banks (PSBs) in the country, opposing government's policy to privatise the lenders. Customers will be inconvenienced to get services such as cash withdrawals, deposits, cheque clearances, remittance services. Government transactions related to treasury as well as business transactions will also be impacted. United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), an umbrella body of nine unions, had given a strike call for March 15 and 16.
According to coal ministry officials, the Bill is likely to be introduced in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. The Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Ordinance, 2014 was brought in October this year in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision cancelling 214 coal blocks.
Talking to PTI Amarjeet Kaur, General Secretary of All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), said, "The two-day nationwide strike by the joint forum of central trade unions has begun this morning". About the impact of the agitation, she said that the entire coal belt (mining area) is affected in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. She also said that there is a good response in industrial areas of Assam, Haryana, Delhi, West Bengal, Telangana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Bihar, Punjab, Rajasthan, Goa, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. The AITUC official noted that the banks and insurance sectors are affected all over India, while steel and oil sectors are also seeing partial impact due to the strike. Kaur said that she has got preliminary reports that markets are closed in Odisha.
A joint forum of central trade unions has given a call for a nationwide strike on March 28 and 29, to protest against government policies affecting workers, farmers, and people. The Joint Platform of central trade unions held a meeting in Delhi on March 22, 2022, to take stock of the preparations in various states and sectors for the proposed two-day all India strike on 28-29 March 2022 against "the anti-worker, anti-farmer, anti-people and anti-national policies" of the central government, a statement said. The statement said that roadways, transport workers and electricity workers have decided to join the strike in spite of the impending threat of ESMA (Haryana and Chandigarh, respectively). Financial sectors, including banking and insurance, are joining the strike, it stated.
'My father's life sends a message that there are positive things happening between India and China, no matter what happens at the border.'
According to reports, public transport and banking services remain partly disrupted for the second day in some states.
With the bodies of all the missing workers recovered, the two-day rescue operation ended late on Saturday evening.
With the top spot assured in the pool with a round to go, India was held to a 3-3 draw by a fighting Slovenia.
The four are said to be belonging to the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist's union outfit -- CITU, one of the 10 trade unions, which were on strike on Wednesday.
The employees backed by the Centre of Indian Trade Unions have been on strike since June 7 demanding union recognition, reinstatement of some suspended workers and wage hike, CITU office-bearers said.
A joint forum of central trade unions has given a call for a nationwide strike on March 28 and 29 to protest against the government policies affecting workers, farmers, and people.
Dipankar Mukherjee, an engineer-turned-trade unionist and former Rajya Sabha member, died at a hospital in New Delhi on Monday after battling pancreatic cancer.
'The only system that will work is scientific socialism where there will be minimum contradictions, and where interests of the majority are taken care of.'
Most of the lenders had informed their customers in advance about the strike call given by All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA), All India Bank Officers' Association (AIBOA), BEFI, INBEF, INBOC and Bank Karmachari Sena Mahasangh (BKSM), and its impact on banking services.
While all indicators pointed to economy drastically slowing down due to lack of demand, the government continued to steer its policies in the name of 'ease of doing business', aggravating widespread impoverishment and deepening the crisis further, the unions alleged.
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