Nationwide strike: Bank services partially hit; impact in Kerala, West Bengal

Central Trade Unions on Monday (March 28) began a two-day nationwide strike to protest against the government’s alleged wrong policies that are affecting farmers, workers and people.

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”.

Kaur 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 and Odisha.

Meanwhile, the Maharashtra government has invoked the Maharashtra Essential Services Maintenance Act (MESMA), which prevents employees of state-run electricity companies from joining the protest, said State Power Minister Nitin Raut.

Maharashtra took the decision looking at high demand for electricity in the state. It doesn’t want farmers, industries and the people in general to bear the brunt of the protest.

Taking cognisance of the call, the Ministry of Power on Sunday had issued an advisory to states and other agencies to be on high alert and ensure round the clock electricity supply and stability of the national grid.

In Kerala, where the Left has a strong presence, roads wore a deserted look. The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) buses were not seen while only few private vehicles were spotted plying on the roads.

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The Kerala High Court has restrained five unions at the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) from participating in the nationwide strike. The state government has made arrangements for emergency travel facilities.

In West Bengal too trade unions staged protests. However, the Mamata Banerjee government has asked all offices to remain open and ordered employees to report for duty.

As per PTI reports, banking services were partially impacted as a section of employees did not report for duty. Transactions at many public sector banks have been impacted delays were expected in cheque clearances. However, there was barely any impact on the functioning of most private sector banks.

Amarjeet Kaur 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.

As many as 10 Central Trade Unions (CTUs) have joined hands to go on a two-day nationwide strike from Monday. About 20 crore workers are expected to join the strike.
The strike notices have been given by the unions in various sectors, such as coal, steel, oil, telecom, postal, income tax, copper, banks, and insurance, among others.

The unions in railways and defence sector are making mass mobilisation in support of the strike at several hundred spots, the joint forum had said earlier.

A joint forum of central trade unions had given a call for a nationwide strike on March 28 and 29 to protest against the government policies affecting workers, farmers, and people.
Their demands include the scrapping of the labour codes, no privatisation of any form, scrapping of the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP), increased allocation of wages under MNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act) and regularisation of contract workers among others.

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The central trade unions that are part of this joint forum are INTUC, AITUC, HMS, CITU, AIUTUC, TUCC, SEWA, AICCTU, LPF and UTUC.

(With inputs from agencies)