Call it the strength of a union or a group of people, or maybe the weakness of the government, or just the desperation of the working class, but workers from various disparate sectors are out on the streets in protest. Some are even on hunger strike.
Strikes have always been a way of pointing out the government’s mistakes, a final last ditch effort when all else fails – when the paper work in terms of complaining to authorities is done with and the petitions and the meetings with all and sundry have been done. From shops closing due to the lack of beef to loud chants for the cause of workers, the reasons are many but the course of action is the same these days: a strike.
First came the security guards and workers and now the employees of the 108 emergency services. Between these came other issues, and strikes were called in connection with the illegal slaughter of cattle and the attack on animal activists. Most of them used a symbolic venue – the martyr’s monument in Panjim’s iconic Azad Maidan.
Chants of BJP ko phek do or Hum chup nahi raheinge were de rigeur in the protests.
The All India Trade Union Corporation (AITUC) that usually marches from the bus stand to the Maidan is taking up the fight for the lifeguards and government workers. Their fights have usually been for the rights of the daily wage worker. Late last year, striking CCP workers held the city to ransom threatening an out of control garbage situation on their hands.
Of the longest striking employees are those from the Goa Recruitment Society (GRES) union protesting their sudden termination of work. The group of over 120 workers began their protest back in October 2013 and stopped when the then Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar promised they would be placed in other departments.
The group returned in January this year, some still with no jobs. 120 workers from the 108 Employees Union consisting of mostly young faces were the next to take part in a hunger strike demanding good working conditions and their right as workers.
Hrudaynath Shirodkar, Goa in charge of the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, an all India workers union says almost all sectors of the industry suffer from unpaid workers and a strike is the only way to get the attention of the people as well as the authorities.
“Whether it’s a worker at a pharmaceutical industry or a factory or even an office, the problems are all the same. And this is the only way we can get their attention. The more people there are, the better is the outcome,” he says while preparing for a strike last month.
Review Bureau
