NEW DELHI: Over 25 crore workers across sectors like banking, insurance, postal services, coal mining, highways, and construction, are set to participate in a nationwide general strike on Wednesday. The action is being led by a coalition of ten central trade unions and their affiliates, calling it a ‘Bharat Bandh’ to protest against what they describe as “anti-worker, anti-farmer, and pro-corporate” government policies.
Amarjeet Kaur of the All India Trade Union Congress stated that more than 25 crore workers will join strike, with farmers and rural labour also taking part.
Harbhajan Singh Sidhu from Hind Mazdoor Sabha warned that services like banking, postal deliveries, coal mining, factory operations, and state-run transport are expected to be disrupted.
Unions submitted a 17-point charter of demands last year to Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya.
They allege that the government has not convened the annual labour conference in a decade and is pushing four new labour codes that weaken collective bargaining, restrict unions, extend working hours, curb the right to strike, and benefit employers under the guise of “ease of doing business.”
The unions also charge that economic policies are fueling unemployment, inflation in essential goods, wage stagnation, and cuts in spending on education, health, and civic infrastructure – factors they argue are increasing inequality and hardship for low-income and middle-class families.
They claim the government has abandoned its welfare state role to serve corporate interests.
Specific concerns include:
- Privatisation of public sector enterprises
- Outsourcing, contractorisation, and casualisation of labour
- Weakening trade unions through new labour codes
- Reduced days and pay under MNREGA, and calls for a similar urban guarantee scheme
- Employment-linked incentives that favour employers
- Hiring of retirees over young people, affecting youth unemployment
- Coinciding support by agricultural worker groups and the Samyukta Kisan Morcha
The strike will affect both formal and informal sectors. Leaders from NMDC, the steel sector, state government departments, and various public enterprises have confirmed their participation, with significant rural areas also mobilising.
This is not the first large-scale action by trade unions. Similar nationwide strikes took place on November 26, 2020, March 28–29, 2022, and February 16, 2023.
