Unions: The right to strike

Synopsis: To make an impact, unions in India generally function as extensions of political parties.


The New Year began quite inauspiciously in India. Six million truckers went on strike this time - and officers of the petroleum public service undertaking (PSU) followed suit. Public life was in danger of being crippled. "With friends like these", commented a newscaster summing up the national mood, "who needs enemies?"

Airing grievances

The trucker unions insist their demands are legitimate. Following the global rise, oil prices in the country went up twice within months. Besides, subsidies and exemptions were removed from one metropolitan city to another. The trucks now have to pass through several highway tollbooths and state border check points that cost them more in time and money.

Banks and dealers raise payment rates, while clients refuse to pay more. Truck owners then tend to shortchange drivers to make up losses, causing more dissatisfaction. The rising costs of living have similarly led to the demand for higher wages by striking petroleum officers’ unions.

The transport halt

About seventy percent of goods are moved across the country through the roadways network. The truckers transport food and other essential commodities through the length and breadth of each state. Without them the distribution system in India falters, with goods piling up at docks, depots and godowns.

An artificial scarcity results driving prices upwards. In 2004, a similar strike that lasted a week caused economic slowdown from 8.4 percent in the previous month to 7.9. The strike by petroleum PSUs meant that the retail oil reserves would soon run dry. Every form of transport then, from cars to aeroplanes, would be halted perforce.

The cave-in

The nation, it seemed, was being held to ransom. Following the Mumbai terror attacks, there’s little sympathy for the process of hurting the public simply to air grievances. Besides with the global meltdown presently everybody suffers - many being downsized, many others accepting salary cuts just to keep their jobs. The timing of strike, in short, was poor!

The Central Government came down hard. It threatened to invoke the Essential Services Maintenance Act and even the National Security Act. The striking unions were told to go back to work or go to jail. Their leaders were arrested, and hence the worker movement lost steam. The officers’ agitation fizzled out in three days; the truckers resumed work after eight.

Why the cave in despite the democratic right to strike? Fact is unions in India don’t have much power or sustainable resources by themselves. To make an impact, they need patronage and generally function as extensions of political parties. But state and national parties opted out of driving their issues forward this time.

In the aftermath of terror attacks, popular opinion has held politicians responsible for public safety and security lacking in the country. The people’s loss of confidence displayed in new voting patterns refusing mandate to representatives perceived incompetent in nation building. With crucial general elections right around the corner, political bosses preferred not to cause a stir.

Next…duty before privilege