Staff Reporter
Kozhikode
K.Chandran Pillai, national secretary of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions, will flag off the district level rally of the joint committee of trade unions and service organisations at Vadakara at 5.30 p.m. on Wednesday. T. Dasan, convenor of the joint committee, told reporters here on Tuesday that the rally, being organised to herald the national strike to be held on March 28 and 29, led by INTUC leader K.Rajiv, will travel through the district to culminate at Muthalakkulam grounds in the city on March 18 for a public meeting at 5.30 p.m. During the three days, members of most of the trade unions will take part in the rally at various centres.
The two-day strike is being organised against the various policies of the Central government, that allegedly is demolishing the national economy built up over seven decades. The protest is against the Centre’s “anti-labourer, anti-farmer policies” and the privatisation of public sector enterprises. The trade unions have called upon the public to cooperate with the strike by not letting vehicles ply on the road and keeping all establishments closed.
The demands being raised by the service organisations and trade unions include cancellation of labour codes, cancellation of privatisation and national monetisation pipeline project, increasing investment for agriculture, education, health care and other important public services, hike in wages under the National Employment Guarantee Scheme, cutting of petroleum product prices to prevent inflation, addressing the issues raised by the farmers during their protest, withdrawal of the National Pension Scheme and reverting to the old system and extending social security to workers in the unorganised sector, besides others.
As part of the campaign ahead of the strike, a district convention of women labourers was held on March 9. The women labourers also organised a human chain around Mananchira Square in the city on Tuesday.
Trade union leaders representing CITU, AITUC, INTUC, HMS, STU, NLC, SEWA, INLC, HMKP, NLU, and JLU took part in the press meet.
