KOCHI: The industrial strike called by trade unions on Tuesday against the ‘anti-people’ policies of the UPA government was total in the district.According to a release issued by the Joint Trade Union Ernakulam District Council, 92 per cent of the permanent staff and entire contractual labour at the Cochin Shipyard participated in the 24-hour strike.The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), did not operate any service from the Ernakulam bus depot. As unions of tanker lorry workers joined the strike bandwagon, the functioning of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Hindustan Oil Corporation (HOC) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), were also hit.The strike also affected the working of the BSNL Bhavan and the Postal Department, while a majority of the banks in the district too remained closed.Labourers belonging to various trade unions organised a protest march from Ernakulam Menaka Junction to the Boat Jetty. AITUC leader P Raju presided over the meeting held after the march. INTUC leaders Elsebiyus Master, Sherif Marakkar, BMS state secretary K K Vijayakumar and CITU state secretary K Chandran Pillai also spoke at the meeting.The Joint Trade Union District Council leaders also said that the strike was total in the industrial sector.In Apollo Tyres, the strike was complete while in HMT, nearly 90 per cent of the workers were absent. More than 80 per cent of the workers at FACT also took part. The staff of CUSAT and Kakkaknad Engineering College to gave full support to the strike.The trade unions had called the nationwide strike in protest against the Union Government’s policy of selling stake in state-owned companies as well as the lack of social security for non-unionised workers.The workers’ conditions have been worsening every fiscal, with India’s inflation rate remaining above 9 per cent for most of the last two years.
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