Central Trade Unions hold strong protest in Ludhiana

Ludhiana: On the call for a nationwide strike by the Central Trade Unions, the AITUC, CITU, INTUC, CTU and other independent federations, associations and unions thousands of workers, including women, participated in the rally. 

In this rally,  workers from  Roadways, Electricity, Banks, Education, Health Department, University, PSSF, Hosiery, Industries, Industrial Workers, Manufacturers, Manufacturers, construction workers, Asha workers, Mid Day Meal, Insurance, Communications, Railways, and many more workers joined the rally at the Bus stand here today and later took out procession in the city. The rally was chaired by Swaran Singh INTUC, Jatinderpal Singh CITU, Paramjit Singh CTU and Gurnam Singh Sidhu AITUC.

Speaking on the occasion, Comrade Mangat Ram Pasla CTU, Raghunath Singh CITU, D P Maur AITUC and Gurjit Singh Jagpal INTUC said that the Modi government has pushed the country in a severe economic downturn. First the Demonetization, then GST and now waiving off lakhs of crores bank loans taken by the corporate sector have brought the country in economic chaos. Now they are collecting money by selling even the profit making public sector units at throw away prices to the corporates.

Hard earned rights of the workers through long drawn struggles are being taken away, even the right to unionize. Various speakers at the rally  demanded that the privatization of government units be stopped immediately, minimum wage be fixed at Rs. 21000 per month and daily wage at Rs. 700 per day. Recruitment of workers should be on permanent basis and contract system be abolished. Anti-labor laws brought in labor laws should be withdrawn. Reject the new pension scheme and apply the old pension scheme. They supported  farmers’ rural ‘bandh’ and demanded that the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission be implemented. Supporting small businesses and traders demanded that the FDI in retail trade be stopped immediately.

Criticizing the Punjab government  they said that the . The SAD-BJP government had made a drastic hike in power tariffs with private companies, which is still continuing. Increased rates of electricity should be which is causing huge burden on the common people be withdrawn; the employees be given pay revision immediately from January 1; ensure that DA installments are released immediately and paid on time. The vacancies in the government departments should be filled up so that the youths can get jobs and fulfill their promise of a home-based job in the elections.

Speaking on the occasion, the spokesperson said that the Modi government has been completely unable to resolve the issues of the people, which was manifestly in their defeat in Jharkhand in recent elections and earlier in Haryana and Maharashtra. The RSS patronized BJP government has now become more sharp in devising conspiracy to divide the community and the country on communal lines to divert the attention of the people. The Citizenship Amendment Act, the NPR and the NRC, which directly attacks Muslims and take away the right of citizenship from them, are extremely deadly and are a direct attack on our Constitution. India's secular and democratic constitution does not differentiate citizenship on the basis of any caste. But the people have realised their conspiracy and despite their best efforts, there have been no communal riot. The younger generation, especially the students, have played a very commendable role in the meantime. 

Speakers lashed at the violence at JNU, saying that it was a deep rooted conspiracy hatched by the RSS, whose evidence is now coming up. They demanded that because the government is the perpetrator, it cannot be relied upon; The Supreme Court should take suo moto cognizance of the events and appoint a committee of retired judges to investigate the matter in a time bound manner.
 
Prominent among others who addressed the rally include Sarabjit Kaur Manuke– MLA AAP, Comrades Sukhvinder Singh Sekhon, Jatinder Pal, Jagdish Chand, Rajvinder Singh, M S Bhatia, Ramesh Rattan, Vijay Kumar, Dr Arun Mitra, Ghansham, Sarabjit Singh Sarhali, Baldev Krishan Modgil Charan Sarabha and others.