A unified call for a nationwide “general strike” for Tuesday and Wednesday by central and local trade unions on the issue of “anti-labour” and divestment policies of the current Union government will disrupt public transport in Bengaluru and the rest of Karnataka between 6am and 6pm.
The strike is being supported by All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA)and Labour Progressive Federation (LPF) among others following the National Convention of Workers held on September 28.
Fearing inconvenience to students and parents, Associated Management of Private Schools and CBSE Schools Association announced that private schools will remain shut in Bengaluru. The Pre-University Department has also reportedly postponed preparatory exams for PU-II students. Reports also said various universities including the Bangalore University and Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences have postponed their exams.
District Commissioners of Bengaluru, Chamrajanagar and Mysuru have also ordered all educational institutions in their jurisdiction will remain shut.
Except Namma Metro, all forms of public transport run by state-run transport (bus) corporations – BMTC, KSRTC, NWKRTC, NEKRTC – are likely to be hit as workers affiliated to multiple unions voiced their support to the bandh call.
“Workers of all the state-run corporations including the BMTC will not report to work tomorrow across the state,” said Nagaraju, a state-wide leader of the AITUC and KSRTC workers union.
Suryana Murthy, leader of the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Employees, said, “Although we support the call, we will report to work as all over the country metro services will be running.”
Autorickshaw unions have also supported the call for the bandh in Bengaluru and rest of the state with a majority of autos to be off roads. Swamy of the Auto Rickshaw Union told TNM, “Only few of the autos in the state will be out on the roads tomorrow,” he said.
App-hailed autos and cabs, however, are likely to be largely unaffected as Ola Uber Drivers and Owners Association have announced that they will continue their service and will only give “moral support” to the cause of those striking work. But due to paucity of other modes of transport, surge pricing may be the applied for the entire day.
“After discussing all the facts keeping in mind the difficulties of our fellow drivers we have decided not to stop our services on January 8 and January 9 but we will surely give our complete moral support throughout the struggle,” Tanveer Pasha, President of the Ola TaxiForSure and Uber Drivers’ Association told TNM.
The Bengaluru Airport Taxi Union leader Hamid Akbar also said that their services will be unaffected.
Other than public transport, services of public sector banks are also likely to be hit as All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) and Bank Employees Federation of India have also decided to lend support to the cause.