UNIONS declared victory yesterday after up to 150 million Indian workers took to the streets in a general strike on Wednesday.

The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) and IndustriAll Global Union hailed the enormous turnout in the protest against amendments to labour laws that will make it easier to sack workers.

The decision to call a nationwide strike was taken at a national convention of workers convened by India’s trade union centres in May.

Marches and rallies were held across the country after talks with the government broke down.

Unions had tabled a charter of 12 demands, including the cancelling of the new laws, a new minimum wage, an end to the use of temporary contract labour in long-term jobs and wage parity between temporary and permanent staff.

The list also called for strict enforcement of all basic employment laws, universal social security cover for all workers, compulsory recognition of trade unions and the ratification of International Labour Organisation conventions 87 and 98 on freedom of association, the right to organise and collective bargaining.

IndustriAll assistant general secretary Fernando Lopes joined a mass meeting of workers in Faridabad and attended events in Odisha and Jharkhand in support of the strike.

ITUC general secretary Sharan Burrow expressed her solidarity, stating: “The ITUC and its affiliates all over the world will continue to support

Indian workers in their every struggle to end the anti-labour reforms in India.”

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