Two-day trade unions strike to hit Aam-aadmi

Yesterday’s meeting between Trade Union leaders and group of ministers failed to provide any solution and a nationwide two-day strike from 20-21 February will go on as scheduled.

11 central trade unions including Bank unions have called 2-days strike against fuel price hike and violation of labour laws.

Trade union leaders met defence minister A K Antony, food and agriculture minister Sharad Pawar and labour minister Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday morning to discuss over their demands. Finance minister P Chidambaram was absent from the meeting.

“The government has nothing to offer. We are going ahead with the strike. We expect it to be hugely successful,” CITU president A K Padmanabhan told the reporters after the meeting.

Around 10 lakh bank employees from 90,000 bank branches will participate in the strike.

“All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) is participating in this strike with full strength to resist Central government policy of privatizing public sector banks and allowing more bank licenses to corporate houses in India who are primarily responsible for huge Rs 5 lakh crore non-performing bad loans in Indian banks,” said an All India Bank Employee Association in a statement.

In a statement, FICCI said, “The demands raised by trade unions may be genuine but these cannot be addressed through a strike.”

“The strike is totally uncalled for and will be destructive,” said CII’s director general, Chandrajit Banerjee.

The two-day strike is going to effect people substantially. The estimated loss from the strike is Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 crore.

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