Central Trade Unions Call for Nationwide Protest Against 'Anti-worker' Budget on Feb 3

The joint platform of ten Central Trade Unions, as well as the independent sectoral federations/associations, have given a call for observing a nationwide protest against the Narendra Modi-led government’s anti-worker and anti-people policies.

The major demands of the unions include the scrapping of the four Labour Codes and the Electricity Amendment Bill 2020; income and food support for all poor workers’ households; no privatisation and protesting against the policies of the Union Budget 2021, which are pro-corporate.

On the day of the protest, the central trade unions have called upon the workers to organise massive demonstrations at the workplaces and industrial areas across the country. They have also given a call for burning the copies of the Labour Codes.

In a statement released on February 2, the central trade unions condemned the Budget saying that it is “totally deceptive and destructive for the national economy”. Not only that, the trade unions have said that the Finance Minister in her speech repeated her presentation of the same deceptive packages which were announced in May 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Further, the Budget while being “cruelly insensitive” to the suffering of the toiling masses, continues to give huge concessions to the corporates – both Indian and foreign, the trade unions have said. From public health to employment expenditure, the Budget is marked by drastic reductions in allocation.

Also read: CTUs Protest Across Country Against Modi’s Anti-Worker, Anti-Farmer Bills

The statement also highlighted the drastic reduction in the expenditure for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, especially at a time when it had proved to be a relief for many people who had lost their jobs during the pandemic.

Besides, the Budget also does not offer any suggestion for job generation even as the country is witnessing sky-high levels of unemployment. Instead, there has been a reduction of 35% compared to last year in the allocation for the crucial job and skill development sector, the statement said, calling out the government’s false claims for job creation.

There was also no mention of the urban employment generation scheme, which has been a long-standing demand of the workers’ unions to address the concerns of the urban poor, in the FM’s Budget speech, according to the trade unions.

The FM’s speech also shows the government’s lack of concern for the migrant workers – who suffered the worst brunt of the pandemic – with only an extension of one year for credit relief for housing being mentioned, the trade unions said.

Criticising the government’s take on the farmers’ issues, the trade unions said that increasing the threshold for taking loans is nothing less than “a cruel joke on the farming community which is already finding itself in tight corner and is already entrenched in debt”.

They also claimed that continuing with the government’s policy of selling public assets, the Budget seeks to sell “the public sector banks, enhance FDI in Insurance sector to 74% besides pushing through aggressive disinvestment in LIC, and pursuing privatisation in almost all profit making public sector enterprises while announcing closure in all loss-making PSUs including those in core and strategic sectors”.

They also alleged that the announcement on infrastructure spending has been made with five states “being specially targeted keeping forthcoming Assembly elections in mind”.