Business worth Rs 8 lakh crore was affected in Madhya Pradesh, while Rs2 lakh crore was affected in the state capital with bankers and other trade unions going on a strike against new farm and labour laws and other employee-related issues on Thursday. Work was also affected in 7,500 branches of various public sector undertaking (PSU) banks.
All PSU banks, except State Bank of India (SBI) and Indian Overseas Bank (IOB), joined the strike with other trade unions of the BSNL, LIC and Postal Department at Neelam Park in the state capital to press their demands. The Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), All-India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), All-India United Trade Union Centre (AIUTUC), Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS) and others joined the strike.
The charter of demands
The demands of the joint platform include a cash transfer of Rs 7,500 per month to all non-income-tax paying families and 10 kilograms of free rations to every needy person each month.
The unions have also demanded expansion of the scope of the MGNREGA, the rural employment guarantee scheme, to provide 200 days’ work in a year in the rural areas at enhanced wages and also extension of the employment guarantee to urban areas.
They have also asked the government to withdraw all “anti-farmer laws and anti-worker labour codes and stop privatisation of the public sector, including the financial sector and corporatisation of government-run manufacturing and service entities, such as the Railways, ordnance factories, ports etc”.
The unions have also sought withdrawal of the “draconian circular on forced premature retirement of government and PSU employees”.
The other demands of the unions include ‘pension to all’, scrapping the National Pension System (NPS) and restoration of the earlier pension with improvement in the Employees’ Pension Scheme, 1995 (EPS-95) run by the retirement fund body EPFO.
