Mahapadav day 3: Puducherry, TN Protesters Slam Labour Codes, Privatisation
Trade union members try to break the police barricade at Madha Koil junction, in Puducherry, on Tuesday. Image credit: Theekkathir.
Condemning the BJP government for amending the labour laws and favouring corporate entities, several trade unions in Puducherry gave a united call to gherao the governor’s residence on the third day of the Mahapadav on Tuesday.
They also demanded that the NR Congress-BJP coalition government fulfil the promises made to the people of Puducherry.
The rally began from Kamaraj statue, Pillaithottam, and proceeded towards the governor’s residence. The protesters tried to break the police barricade at Madha Koil junction and were detailed but released later.
The protesters demanded that the Centre control inflation, reduce the excise duty on petroleum products and cooking gas, scrap GST on essential goods and fix a national minimum monthly wage of Rs 26,000.
CITU Puducherry secretary Srinivasan, AITUC state general secretary Sethu Selvam and INTUC state general secretary Gnanasekaran headed the rally.
PROTEST IN TAMIL NADU DISTRICT CAPITALS
After the two-day sit-in protest in Chennai, in which thousands of farmers and workers gathered from across the state, the Central trade unions and the SKM called for demonstrations to be held in district headquarters. The statewide protest was called against the Centre’s anti-worker, anti-farmer and anti-people policies.
Protesters in Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu. Image credit: CITU, Tamil Nadu.
The trade unions had a 14-point charter of demands, including not privatising PSUs, paying one-and-a-half times more for farm produce, increasing MGNREGA working days to 200 and a minimum wage at Rs 26,000.
The protests demanded jobs for educated youths and recruitment to Union and state PSUs. They also insisted that hydrocarbon projects should not be implemented in the Ramanathapuram district.
They also raised slogans against the New Education Policy and shrinking 44 labour laws into four codes and to safeguard the Constitution.
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