Re: India's Electricity and Port Workers Strike

[communist party of india (marxixt)]

The item has been put out very late.
While the port and dock workers strike was settled amicably, the electricity
workers withdrew their strike several days back.

Bill Howard wrote:

> Communist Web
> Tuesday 8th February 2000 9.30pm gmt
>
> India's Electricity and Port Workers Strike
>
> CALCUTTA, Every major port in India has been brought to a standstill as more
> than
> 100,000 dock and port workers went on strike across India following
> breakdown of talks
> between their trade unions and the BJP-led federal government in Delhi.
>
> At the same time, the northern electricity grid that supplies power to
> nearly half of the
> country was switched off when electricity workers including members of the
> officers'
> association and the engineering staff struck work. Both strikes have
> continued unabated
> since January 18, and the power workers' strike would spill over to the rest
> of the country
> following a call for a one-day all-India power strike on January 24. The
> port strike was
> always a threat to the Vajpayi government since the federal minister for
> surface transport
> boasted in public that the "decision to privatise the ports as per the
> wishes of the World
> Bank shall be carried out and the protestations of the `anti-national' TU
> bodies shall
> simply be ignored by the government."