On
February 28th 2012 over 100,000,000 Indian workers will come
out on strike. Workers from many unions and sectors are
trying to gain improvements in areas such as, pay, pensions,
and employment rights.
The
strike has been called because workers have said 'enough is
enough', after two years of the government refusing to
negotiate with unions on any issue. Indian's are sick of the
rich getting richer, record economic growth, whilst 400
million people have not got a pot to piss in.
On
February 28th 2012, an estimated one hundred million Indian
workers will all walk out of work for twenty four hours in
what is likely to be the biggest strike in world history.
Over
a dozen of India’s largest trade unions have called for
and signed up to the strike. The strike will affect many
sectors, including public sector banks, ports and docks,
railways, insurance, road transport, energy workers, miners,
and aviation workers.
“Recent
months have seen a mounting wave of militant worker
struggles in India, strikes for union recognition in
India’s expanding auto sector, including a two–day
occupation of a Hyundai plant, a wildcat strike by Air India
personnel, and walkouts by telecom workers and coal miners
against the central government’s privatization plans.”
The
different unions have a variety of different demands, they
include gaining the same rights and protection for temporary
and contract workers that permanent workers have, raising
and extending the minimum wage, resisting the attacks on
trade unions, stopping price rises, the creation of a
national social security fund, increase in pensions, and
combatting corruption.
Despite
seeing growth of around 9% each year, more than four hundred
million Indians live in absolute poverty. Only a handful of
countries enjoy similar growth, yet Indian workers have not
even been flicked so much as a crumb from the bosses table.
Working and living conditions are equal to, and actually
worse than some African countries that are not experiencing
the same economic growth.
Indian
workers are starting to switch on to the fact that they
‘system’ only serves the wealthy and the bosses.
The
last few year has seen a dramatic rise in the number off
millionaires and billionaires, yet jobs are lost, wages cut,
and unions rights pushed back. India’s richest fifty five
people have 1/6th of all the country’s wealth.
Solidarity
with the Indian workers on the 28th February!