Coimbatore: The central unions today announced a nationwide general strike against the central government's anti-labor laws, the sale of public sector assets to the private sector and the amendment of agricultural laws.
Coimbatore: The central unions today announced a nationwide general strike against the central government's anti-labor laws, the sale of public sector assets to the private sector and the amendment of agricultural laws.
Banks, insurance and telecommunications services in Coimbatore were affected by the strike called by the unions. Regular daily operations were affected due to non-attendance of staff in various departments of central and state government offices.
In Coimbatore, meanwhile, buses, autos and taxis have been operating as usual without affecting the normal life of the public. About 30 percent of autos in Coimbatore are not running. Buses from Coimbatore to Kerala are the only ones not running. The protest took place on behalf of all the auto unions besieging the central RDO office.
Most of the workers in the panchayats, engineering factories and unorganized workers in Coimbatore took part in the strike. In the wake of the strike, all the trade union joint action committee members staged a sit-in protest in front of the Collector's Office.
More than 500 workers, including Coimbatore MP PR Natarajan, took part in the protest. Union executives TMC Periyasamy, Ratnavel, CITU Padmanabhan, Krishnamurthy, INTUC Tulsi Das, Shanmugam, H.M.S. Mani including Rajamani and Veerasamy were present. The police detained and arrested them.
Many public Sector companies were affected by the large turnout of employees of banks and public sector insurance company workers. The protest was held on behalf of the All India Insurance Employees Union in front of the LIC office on Trichy Road, Coimbatore. Similarly, a large number of people in the income tax, postal and telecommunications sectors took part in the struggle. Most of the power plant workers were also on strike.
A small number of officers had arrived at the Chief Telegraph Office near the Coimbatore District Collector's Office. Government offices were deserted due to non-attendance of officers in various government departments. Revenue officials in state government offices were increasingly involved in increasing numbers in the protest. 20 percent of the staff did not come to work.
Some of the offices in the district magistrate's office were understaffed. Thus, office functions were slightly affected. Also, as a precautionary measure due to the strike, police security was put up at bus stands, bus depots, railway stations, central and state government offices.