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Melbourne supports the striking workers in India!
Tuesday, 5.30pm 28 February 2012
Federation Square, Melbourne, Australia
On February 28, over 100 million Indians will join together and walk off the job in what is likely to be the largest strike of workers the world has ever seen.
Workers around the world will be standing in solidarity with those fighting for economic justice in India. In Melbourne we invite all those who support worker’s rights to join together at Fed Square, the site of several inspiring political actions involving Melbourne’s Indian community.
The call for the one-day general strike has been given by all of India’s eleven central trade unions and supported by all industrial federations. This strike will affect virtually all major industries in the country. Amongst those on board are public sector banks, port and dock leaders, railways, insurance, road transport, and the energy industry.
The different labor unions have specific demands that they want to achieve with the strike. These include bringing contract workers up to the same level of employee protections as permanent workers, extending the minimum wage to cover the entire population, and countering the attacks on unions.
India, much like Australia and many other parts of the global economy, has been subjected to an aggressive neoliberal re-structuring. The New Economic and Industrial Policies introduced in 1991 has only entrenched the wealth disparity and aggravated the dire poverty experienced by many Indians.
Despite recent year-on-year GDP growth rates of 8% or 9%, more than four in 10 children under five years old are malnourished and many more suffer from stunted growth. In 2010 researchers at Oxford University found that there were more than 410 million people living in poverty in India, more than in the 26 countries of sub-Saharan Africa combined. The poverty has been described as equal to, if not worse than, that of the war-ravaged Democratic Republic of the Congo. This is a stunning indictment of the economic system in India–one of the so-called ‘economic powerhouses’ of the developing world.
The neoliberal policies in India, like those in Europe, the United States and Australia, have led to the disappearance of jobs, the erosion of wages and working conditions and attacks on trade union rights. All the while, the number of billionaires in India has grown exponentially. The country has 55 billionaires whose aggregate wealth of $250 billion is equivalent to almost a sixth of the nation’s annual economic output. Simply put, neoliberal economic policy is an open attack on the workers from the bosses.
Despite the many damning statistics and the vigorous lobbying from NGOs and unions, it appears that the Indian political establishment is in no mood to change it’s course. It’s time for the workers and the oppressed of India to force their hand and push for economic justice. And it’s happening!
Join us on February 28 at Federation Square in a spirit of human rights and international solidarity.
www.workerssolidaritymelbo
Help promote this action by printing and distributing posters:
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0Byg4mpHxcVpMRF9pNVVmNVpRWEN3emFNNUJmZmJzQQ
WSN India info flyer: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B2uo9IqDXqC1bzhJdGZTOUhTVWlraVZQUWdVWWM2QQ
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27 February 2012
Melbourne comes out in support for world’s biggest ever strike
On Tuesday, the biggest strike the world has ever seen will likely take place, potentially involving over 100 million workers in India. The historic event has given rise to a solidarity event to be held in Federation Square organised by Workers Solidarity Network (Melbourne).
The Indian General Strike on February 28 is significant in that it is the first to be called by all of India’s eleven central trade unions since India’s independence in 1947.
A previous general strike took place in September 2010 that involved an estimated 100 million people. The strike will affect virtually all major industries in the country and was scheduled to coincide with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s handing down of India’s budget.
The general strike is pushing for a better deal for India’s workers, and support for workers’ collective action to more aggressively push against the inequality that has flourished in India since it’s adoption of neoliberal policies in 1991.
The India general strike’s key demands include: 1) Increase in the minimum wage 2) Greater employment protections 3) An end to contracting out/outsourcing of jobs 4)Social security for unorganised/informal workers.
Melbourne’s Workers Solidarity Network is supporting the general strike in India and hopes that it will encourage greater solidarity between workers on an international scale. With the outsourcing of jobs currently underway at Telstra and in the banking sector, the need for a worker’s response that goes across national boundaries is urgently needed.
Business is chasing higher profits through the use of cheap foreign labour, a process which has only ever successfully been countered by international solidarity through unions.
The neoliberal policies in India, like those in Europe, the United States and Australia, have led to the disappearance of jobs, the erosion of wages and working conditions and attacks on trade union rights. The gap between the rich and the poor has exploded in all these countries, despite the supposed benefits of the ‘trickle down’ economics of neoliberalism.
The number of billionaires in India has grown exponentially—there are now 55 billionaires whose aggregate wealth of $250 billion is equivalent to almost a sixth of the nation’s annual economic output.
Despite recent year-on-year GDP growth rates of 8% or 9%, more than four in 10 children under five years old are malnourished and many more suffer from stunted growth. In 2010 researchers at Oxford University found that there were more than 410 million people living in poverty in India, more than in the 26 countries of sub-Saharan Africa combined. This is a stunning indictment of the economic system in India—one of the so-called ‘economic powerhouses’ of the developing world.
Australian workers do not benefit from the low wages and structural poverty in countries such as India. Workers Solidarity Network condemns any businesses that seek to take advantage of the desperation of those in the global south to attack the jobs and living standards of workers in Australia and India.
5.30pm, Tuesday 28 February 2012. Federation Square, Melbourne, Australia.
I’m in! I think this is a great thing. That’s a lot of folks.