Talks in a limbo: Unions to take call on Sept 2 strike today

The government is understood to have circulated a note, explaining that it is already working on seven of the demands put ahead by trade unions, including amendments to Minimum Wages Act, Contract Labour Act.

Central trade unions are set to meet on Friday to take a final call on whether to go ahead with the country wide strike on September 2 after two days of meetings with a ministerial panel led by finance minister Arun Jaitley.

“As of now, the strike stands. We see no reason to back down despite government’s assurances on some of our demands,” said AK Padmanabhan, president, Confederation of Indian Trade Unions after a meeting with the Group of ministers on Thursday.

The government is understood to have circulated a note in Thursday’s meeting, explaining that it is already working on seven of the demands put ahead by trade unions, including amendments to Minimum Wages Act, Contract Labour Act and providing universal social security.

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It has also assured trade unions that the Rs 1,000 minimum monthly pension would be continued and demands for a DA would be looked into and no changes would be made to the Trade Unions Act, 1926. “They have promised that these seven demands would be looked into and we are awaiting a written assurance by them. Based on this, we will review the strike call on Friday,” said BN Rai, president, Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh.

Eleven central trade unions including CITU, BMS, INTUC, AITUC, HMS, AIUTUC, TUCC, SEWA, AICCTU, UTUC, LPF have called for an all India strike on September 2 to protest against the “anti-people” policies of the NDA government. The strike is expected to impact daily life with even bank unions set to join it against government policies.