Look what's
happening in India.
Michelle Chen
had a recent article on the February 28 All-India General Strike, which brought together many different workers,
civil servants along with rickshaw drivers, in opposition to the neoliberal
policies of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government.
India would
seem to be the economic envy of many struggling counties, Chen notes, but the
benefits are not trickling down. In
fact, a report issued by PSI’s India Office describes how India's “new economic policy ,” which embodied the
free-market ideology that has shaped "development" across the Global
South, has systematically eroded the economic security of government workers. Shockingly, International Trade Union
Confederation has reported that many of the most oppressed workers are children.
Workers are pushing back. Public Services International, a global union
that works with public employees in India, has formulated a list of demands,
including (a) gaining the same rights and protection for temporary and contract
workers as that of permanent workers, (b) raising and extending the minimum
wage, (c) resisting the attacks on trade unions, (d) stopping price rise, (e)
the creation of a national social security fund, (f) increase in pensions, (g)
combating corruption
US civil service
employees are similarly replaced by a process of contracting out.
Contract employees are paid less, get no benefits, and are not organized.
What would happen if we all decided not to go to work? How would the country function then?
What would happen if we all decided not to go to work? How would the country function then?
Check
out the full article, In All-India
General Strike, Workers Go All Out Against Neoliberalism
By Charles Paidock
