Nationwide general strike on 8th and 9th January
Posted on: 07/Jan/2019 5:25:49 PM
Emphasising on their 12-point demand to the central government on various issues including protesting against the new economic policies being taken, to withdraw the proposal for the New Pension Scheme, and drop the proposal to sell the shares of the Public Sector Undertakings, the central trade unions have planned to go strike throughout the country on 8th January (tomorrow) and 9th January (day-after-tomorrow).
10 Employee Unions including INTUC, AITUC, HMS, CITU, AIUTUC, AICCTU, UTUC, TUCC, LPF and SEWA have called for the central government employees, transport corporation staff and officials, etc., to participate whole-heartedly in the proposed strike on 8th and 9th January.
It has been announced that 15 Lakh central government employees throughout the country would be participating in the strike.
Further, state government employees, teachers, bank employees, and public department employees from various unions would also be participating in the strike.
Tamil Nadu Government Employees Union, Tamil Nadu Arasu TASMAC Employees Union, TASMAC Employees State Federation, Transport Department, and TANGEDCO employees unions have expressed their support.
The administrators of the various unions have informed that in the state of Tamil Nadu alone, 1.5 Lakh central government employees, along with around 9 Lakhs state government employees will also be participating in this strike.
As the bank employees and insurance companies’ employees have also joined this strike, there is a situation especially in the ban transactions where over 50000 cheque-payment transactions might get blocked.
Employees of the Transport Corporations are also set to participate in this strike. The General Secretary of TUCC Shanmugam, informed that as all the unions except Anna Transport Employees Union are participating, there is the possibility of the transport facilities getting blocked during the strike.
Because of this, the state government has taken precautionary action to operate the buses with security. Even then, there is a likelihood of transportation getting affected. Action has been initiated to arrange Police Security in all the 33 Bus Depots in the Chennai Metro City.
The Chief Secretary of the state government of Tamil Nadu, Girija Vaidyanathan has notified in this regard:
Indulging in strikes which disrupt the daily official functions is against the Law of the Tamil Nadu Government Employees Good Conduct rules and regulations.
So, action will be taken against the employees who participate in this strike. Salary will not be paid for the employees failing to attend duty on 8th and 9th January.
In case, the temporary employees indulge in the strike, they would be removed from their jobs.
Still, as all unions except BJP Union are participating, the government services are likely to be very acutely affected. Especially, with the banks being closed, the normal lifestyle of the public will be completely disrupted.
