Workers affiliated with the Centre of Indian Trade Unions will organise nationwide protest actions in more than one lakh workplaces on Wednesday, and conduct gherao of district collectorates and 'jail bharo' (fill the jails) on January 7-8 in solidarity with farmers protesting against the contentious farms laws and demanding repeal of the "anti-worker" labour codes.
Announcing the protest plans, CITU General Secretary Tapan Sen said these actions will be in addition to the support and solidarity actions already done by the CPI(M)-supported trade union.
The CITU is demanding the repeal of the three farm laws, four labour codes, and the Electricity (Amendment) Bill.
Sen said the CITU and the entire working class movement have been supporting the farmers’ protests against the three farm ordinances, before the Bills were passed in Parliament violating all Parliamentary procedures and norms.
"Repeal of the three Farm Acts was one of the major demands of the joint trade union movement on its general strike on November 26. CITU committees across the country have been actively supporting, through their physical participation, all the calls of the ‘Samyukta Kisan Morcha', whether it was the call for Bharat Bandh on December 8 or the protests in front of Toll gates, Reliance Malls and petrol pumps across the country," he said.
Sen said the CITU has now decided to further strengthen the struggle against these policies by further mobilising workers in support of the peasants’ demand to repeal the Farm Acts in their action programmes.
During its protests, the CITU will also be demanding stopping privatisation and providing relief to the poor unorganised sector workers, agricultural workers through cash transfer of Rs 7,500 per month, 10 kg free food grains per person per month to all needy, expansion of employment guarantee, universal free health, social security for all and other basic demands of the working people like enhanced minimum wage and decent employment among other things.
"The CITU assures the working class will stand by its peasant brothers and sisters in their struggle against the BJP government's anti farmer, anti-worker and anti-national policies, meant to benefit the big corporate cronies like Ambani and Adani and others," Sen said.
In a statement, the CITU also appealed to the working class to stand in active solidarity with the peasants and take the joint struggles of the workers and peasants to new heights of resistance and defiance and force a change in the policies that benefit a few corporates towards those that benefit the mass of the people.