#WorkersStrikeBack: Andhra All Set For a Financial Shutdown on Jan 8-9

[As lakhs of workers gear up for a historic All India Strike on January 8-9, called for by 10 central trade unions, Newsclick brings to you glimpses of the lives of industrial workers in different parts of the country.]

At the call of a joint platform of all trade unions except for [RSS-affiliated] Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh for a two-day nationwide general strike on January 8 -9, trade unions across Andhra Pradesh have held conventions in all 13 districts, preparing workers for the strike to resist the anti-workers policies of the Narendra Modi regime.

There are 75 scheduled emploments (in respect of which minimum wages are fixed) in Andhra Pradesh, but workers are arguing that while the laws mandate the state governments to revise the minimum wages once in every five years, no revision of minimum wages has been done for the last 12 years. More than 50 lakh workers are involved in these employments.

While increasing minimum wage to Rs 18,000 is one of the major demands of the workers, currently, the minimum wage in various categories ranges from some Rs 8,000 to 10,000, as per the the state Labour Department notification.

Trade unions in the state including Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), International Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU), and 40 industrial federations among others have come under a joint platform, and are organising workers for the strike.

Demanding regularisation, contractual and outsourced employees from state and central government departments have already announced that they will be participating in the two-day strike.

With the participation of the employees and workers from the banking sector, insurance and other financial sectors, the state is all set for a financial shutdown on January 8 and 9. Besides, workers from the unorganised sector such as beedi workers, hamali workers,

construction workers, and private and public transport workers (such as auto drivers, lorry drivers, taxi drivers) have announced that they will be joining the strike.

The regressive policies of the central government under the BJP is such that the regime is favoring industrialists and employers while the rights of the workers have been severely undermined, says MA Gafoor, state CITU general secretary.

"The trade unions have been demanding proper enforcement of the existing labour laws, instead, both the central and state governments are coming up with regressive anti-workers policies," Gafoor told Newsclick. He added that CM Chandra Babu Naidu is no different from PM Narendra Modi, when it comes to the rights of the workers.

"Trade unions’ leaders have repeatedly appealed the state government to revise the minimum wage, but the CM declines the demand, saying that it would affect further investments by the industrialists," says Gafoor.

Between December 26 and 30, union leaders from the joint platform have conducted Prachara Jatarlu, campaigning across villages, reaching out to workers and their families, and appealing to them to join the strike. Workers not associated with any trade union are also being approached by the leaders who are explaining to them the need for the strike.

Photo: Hamali workers of a Jute mill in Eluru town participating in a procession in support of 8th and 9th All India General Strike (December 30, 2018).

Since 2014, industrial employment has fallen across the state because of the central government’s policies such as foreign direct investment and GST.

“In the last four years, tens of major industries – Jute mills in Visakhapatnam and Vizianagaram, Spinning Mills in Rayalaseema region and Guntur district, Ferro industries in Vizianagaram and Kurnool – have been abruptly closed, and thousands of workers have been protesting at those industries for work,” Gafoor explained the plight of industrial workers. “After the launch of GST, more than 1000 micro and small-scale industries have been closed, and the jobless youth have been migrating to cities such as Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad in search of livelihood.”

Worse is the condition of the scheme workers, as they have been demanding that the government at least recognise them as real workers instead of “honorary workers”.

On July 30 last year, around 3,000 women workers under Mid-day meal scheme in Visakhapatnam district held protest in front of state HRD minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao’s house to oppose the government’s decision to introduce cluster system all over the state, and run the mid-day meal scheme through private agencies. These women were brutally lathi charged and arrested. While this is just one such case, whenever workers hold any protest, the state government has only chosen to suppress the movements mainly through threatening means such as police action.

Increase in incidents of workers’ death

In 2018, the state witnessed several incidents where workers have been killed in accidents at their workspaces. In February, seven workers of a private hatchery died of asphyxiation inside a drain in Chittoor district and in August last year, 10 workers were killed, and several others injured in a blast at a stone quarry at Hathi Belgal in Kurnool district. As per reports, workers in pharma industries around Krishnapatnam town are prone to severe illness due to the release of dangerous gases. Therefore, proper working conditions has always been a longstanding demand among the workers in the state.

The 12-point charter of demands that the trade unions have come up with includes urgent measures for containing price-rise and unemployment, universal social security cover for all workers, minimum wages of not less than Rs. 18,000 per month with provisions of indexation, stoppage of disinvestment in Central/State PSUs and strategic sale, stoppage of contractisation in permanent perennial work, and payment of same wage and benefits for contract workers as regular workers for same and similar work, among others.