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Journalism of Courage
Determined to foil the Lefts plans to make the February 28 strike by trade unions a grand success,Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will address a rally of unorganised sector workers Saturday while the entire state administration has been geared up to take to the streets to stop the protesters from disrupting normal life.
Abandon the politics of bandh and join work, is the message the CM will send out at the rally,which is expected to be attended by more than 1.5 lakh workers. We will convince workers that the culture of bandh harms development, Labour Minister Purnendu Basu said.
At a meeting on Friday,Mamata asked a group of ministers to ensure there was no trouble on February 28. To ensure the strike fails,Transport Minister Madan Mitra warned employees who do not turn up for work on February 28 would lose one days seniority. The department would increase the number of bases as well as step up their frequency on the roads to facilitate movement.
What the government is doing is illegal. We hope there will be a tremendous response to the strike call, Shyamal Chakrabarty,CITU state president,said.
The Congress,an ally of the ruling Trinamool Congress,is divided on the issue. While the party has officially opposed the strike,a large section of its Bengal unit supports it. The official party line is that it is not opposed to an industrial strike but a general strike. Workers of all sectors have genuine grievances and we support an industrial strike. But the CPM is trying to convert it to a general strike, the partys state chief Pradip Bhattacharya said.
Centre appeal
The Centre Friday urged trade unions to cancel the strike on February 28,saying it will cause colossal economic loss besides inconveniencing the common man. Labour Minister Mallikarjun Kharge pointed out that most of the issues relating to labour raised by the unions have already been addressed to a substantial extent. The union leaders,however,rejected the Centres appeal,saying it never consults them.
