Banking hit, ports normal in trade union strike in Maha

Millions of workers in government, private sector, banks and other establishments joined the nationwide trade shutdown called by 10 central trade unions, including the ruling Shiv Sena, here on Wednesday, according to top union leaders.

While banking services were badly hit in the state with over 40,000 officers and workers joining the trade strike, the functioning of Mumbai Port Trust and Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust and the Indian Railways continued unaffected, according to official sources.

"Six major banking unions joined the strike at all levels, which completely paralysed normal operations in 6,000 branches of 18 nationalised banks, 11 private and 6 foreign banks in the state," said Devidas Tuljapurkar, General Secretary, Maharashtra State Bank Employees Federation.

Later, over 5,000 bank employees marched to join a massive protest rally at Azad Maidan along with workers of other unions this afternoon.

"The strike elicited a total and peaceful response in entire state today. The banking and financial sectors, oil companies, Central/state government establishments, defence establishments, docks, private engineering and chemical sectors, government hospital nurses, industrial estates, railway workers, Mathadi labour, aanganwadi employees, etc joined the agitation," Trade Union Joint Action Committee (Maharashtra) Convenor Vishwas Utagi told .

However, the response was partial in the transport sector in Mumbai with both suburban and long-distance trains ofACentral Railway, Western Railway and Konkan Railway operating normally.

Similarly, while wholesale fresh produce markets, shops and commercial establishments functioned usually mostly in urban centres, the response to the strike was felt more in rural areas, he added.

During the day, thousands of workers took out 'relay' processions from different parts in Mumbai, besides marches in Pune, Nagpur, Aurangabad and other districts in the state and held noisy demonstrations, shouting slogans against the government for its anti-labour policies.

This was the first-time that all major parties in the state - except the BJP - joined the nationwide strike action. They included the ruling Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party, Congress, the CPI, the CPI-M, the PWS, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, the Janata Dal and others, said Utagi.

Besides the 10 national-level trade unions, around 60 youth and students organisations have also joined the nationwide strike, to protest against the anti-worker policies of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Centre.

However, the BJP dismissed the strike as a "failure" in Maharashtra, despite the Shiv Sena joining it, according to party spokespersons.

( With inputs from IANS )