According to M M Lawrence, state secretary of CITU, though the social and political mould in Kerala is unique, the state cannot be excluded from the plans of the Left trade unions to finetune future public strikes on a minimum three-day or 72-hour pattern.
“Kerala should think on the lines of India and the state cannot remain apart,” he said. “The government and the media are unmindful of the present pattern of TU stirs. The proposed changes are intended to shake them through three- day stirs or of more duration. Kerala or any other state could not be excluded from a workers’ cause spearheaded in the country,” Lawrence told Express.
“History was made with all the TUs cutting across political affiliations coming under one umbrella to highlight pertinent issues concerning the working class through the February 28 stir. Even the INTUC was forced to join it after finding that workers stood to lose many things otherwise,” he said.
It was the West Bengal unit of the CITU which mooted the idea of prolonged strikes to create a telling impact.
It was pointed out that a 12 or 24- hour strike has become a routine affair with which the public also have more or less become reconciled. CITU national president A K Padmanabhan reported the proposal to the CPM leadership. The party discussed the matter in detail and waved the green flag for implementation at the TU level.
Prolonged bandhs and hartals are familiar so far only to north-eastern states in the country, but the reasons are mostly conflicts with military forces than political or TU demands.
“The unusual joint stir of TU’s had attracted national and even international attention but the results out of it were not promising. Perhaps, industrialists and employers might have dismissed it as a holiday like a Sunday or Good Friday,” he quipped. “Prolonged stirs will be taken note of to address the demands of strikers in the right perspective,” Lawrence hoped.
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