The charter of demand urged hosting an Indian Labour Conference. The tripartite body last met in 2015
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The platform of 10 Central trade unions and independent sectoral federations and associations got support from farmers union for the nationwide strike against the four labour codes on Wednesday. RSS-backed Bhartiye Mazdoo Sangh (BMS) announced that it will not participate in the strike.
In a statement, the BMS said the government has given heed to its suggestion to make changes in labour codes and also ready for more such corrective steps in the interest of workers. It also stated that the protest is politically motivated.
The demands
However, other trade unions pressed on. Their demands included withdrawal of fixed term employment and scrapping of Agnipath scheme, 8-hour workday, restoration of non-contributory Old Pension Scheme and a minimum monthly pension of ₹9,000 for the EPFO subscribers, among others.
They also demanded implementation of the recommendation of Indian Labour Conference (ILC) to give worker status to scheme workers—Anganwadi, Asha and Midday meal, Asha Kiran etc— and provide ESIC coverage to them. Their demand charter underlined an urgent need to form a climate resilience fund to cover the risks and damages caused due to extreme climate conditions including heat wave, floods, cyclones, unseasonal rains and so on.
The charter of demand also urged hosting an ILC. The tripartite body last met in 2015. Additionally, the unions demanded an immediate halt to the privatisation of Indian Railways, road transport, coal mines and other non-coal mines, port and dock, defence, electricity, postal, telecom, banks and insurance sector.
The famers’ joint forum, Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), also appealed to the people to extend support to the general strike of workers. They demanded a repeal of four labour codes, MS at C2+50 per cent for all crops, minimum wage of ₹26,000 per month and no privatisation of PSU’s beside others. “Strike will intensify broad-based, sustained, mightier struggles until all demands realised,” they warned.
Against FTAs
In a statement, the farmer body said the general strike is also against the imposition of free trade agreements on Indian people. US imperialism has unleashed all efforts to coerce the Modi government to impose unfair trade terms and to dump US agricultural products in India. The intention of the free trade agreement is unregulated freedom for US food chains, trading giants and agribusiness corporations to operate in India.
“Tariff free import of huge quantity of highly subsidised milk and milk products, soybean, cotton, mice, wheat, rice, pulses, oilseeds, paddy, GM crops, fruits and vegetables including apple and walnuts, processed and canned foods into Indian markets will devastate the income and livelihood of Indian peasantry,” it said.
Published on July 8, 2025