Rallies, ‘stop privatisation’ slogans mark general strike in Andhra Pradesh

Trade unions accuse BJP-led Centre of adopting anti-people’s policies

The workers under the aegis of trade unions took part in the two-day general strike across the State on Monday.

The workers took out rallies and staged protests as part of the nation-wide strike, while the trade unions claimed that the strike was successful.

The trade union leaders alleged that the policies adopted by the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre were causing immense loss to the people and the nation. “The Central government must desist from anti-people policies. Else, it would face the ire of the workers,” they said. 

In Vijayawada, workers took out a rally from the Ratham Centre to Lenin Centre. AT a public meeting, the trade union leaders demanded that the ‘spree of privatisation’ must stop.

They protesters shouted slogans against privatisation. Central trade unions, except for the pro-government BMS, participated in the first day of two-day strike.

The charter of demands included stopping privatisation measures, scrapping the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP), increased allocation for MGNREGS, and extension of employment guarantee scheme to urban areas.

Scrapping of the four Labour Codes and the Essential Defence Services Act (EDSA), and cancelling the New Pension Scheme (NPS) and restoration of the old scheme; increasing minimum pension under the Employees’ Pension Scheme were among the other demands.