Since 2014, a coalition led by the right-wing Hindu nationalist BJP, Party of the Indian People, has ruled under Narendra Modi. India competes as a location for manufacturing companies. To attract international private capital, layoffs and crackdowns on unions have been made easier, and state-owned enterprises (including railroads, telecommunications companies and airlines) are to be privatized. In this complex situation, not only traditional unions and federations are organizing, but informal and migrant workers are also becoming part of a movement facing a major socio-political challenge.
Trade union federations (CTUs) mobilized against Modi's neoliberal policies. 12 of the 13 CTUs are directly affiliated to political parties. In addition, there is the National Trade Union Initiative (NTUI), which is independent of political parties. The CTUs primarily organize formally employed workers, who make up less than 10 % of the labor force. The NTUI recruits primarily in the informal sector. Recently, the MASA (Campaign for Workers' Rights and Labor Struggle) was also formed by 14 unions and organizations. It also fights for precarious workers and, unlike the CTUs, advocates spontaneous and militant struggles. Another national organization is the Automotive Workers Union (AWU), founded in 2015. It does not belong to any CTU and has organized various struggles in automotive clusters.
They demanded a higher minimum wage, the reversal of labor reforms and privatization and the abolition of the new discriminatory citizenship law. Smaller militant organizations led the mobilization.
Almost all public transport, trains, trucks, minibuses and cabs were at a standstill. Agricultural workers set up roadblocks. Students and employees of 60 universities went on strike.
Small farmers have been protesting since September 2020 against new agricultural laws that push India's agriculture into the arms of private investors and corporations. Agriculture is the main source of income for 50% of the population. After hundreds of thousands protested without consequence in their regions, they stormed Delhi and clashed with police.
However, the radical independent organizations and spontaneous movements have not been more successful than the CTUs. The weakness of the Indian trade union movement became evident in the wake of the nationwide lockdown, which the government announced on March 25, 2020, just four hours before it was to begin. The lockdown dealt a severe blow to India's economy and triggered a humanitarian crisis.
Storytelling: Dario Azzellini and Adriana Yee Meyberg, Illustration: Carina Crenshaw
This is a visual storytelling inspired by the article "rade Union Mobilization Against the Modi Regime" by Charvaak Pati, published in the anthology "If Not Us, Who? Global workers against authoritarianism, fascism, and dictatorships (external link, opens in a new window) (external link, opens in a new window)" by Dario Azzellini.
This material is published under the terms of the Creative Commons license CC BY 4.0! (external link, opens in a new window) Share, use or adapt this graphic narrative for your educational work. Don't forget to republish it under the same terms, giving credit to LINX and the authors!
With the neoliberal reforms that Macron has rapidly implemented, social dialogue between social movements, unions and the government has become more difficult and fragmented. The French trade union movement is split along political lines into several umbrella organizations, and the level of organization has stagnated. The yellow vests have not been able to decisively change Macron's course. But they have rearticulated positions critical of capitalism and class struggle, also taking migrant struggles into the equation.
Labor struggles have a long tradition in Germany. Over time, they have not only focused on the demand for better working conditions, but have also been linked - albeit in a rather shy form at the beginning - to the anti-racist and anti-fascist struggle. Within the trade union political education programs, right-wing agitation was increasingly countered with a realistic picture of asylum and migration policy after the "Summer of Migration" in 2015.
During the Trump presidency, U.S. unions initially opposed the rise of authoritarianism only symbolically. Over time, they acted more decisively. Where union members became active in the workplace, they succeeded in slowing the trend toward authoritarianism and sometimes achieved significant successes.
In 2019, Chile was swept by the largest revolt in its history. The uprising fundamentally changed the political situation. The right-wing government under billionaire Sebastián Piñera responded with military repression. At the height of the protests, there was a massive general strike that paved the way for a constitutional referendum. After two years of work by the constitutional convention, the new draft constitution was rejected in a referendum.
Colombia is considered the oldest democracy in Latin America. In fact, it is an authoritarian regime that has waged war against the population for over 100 years. How does the population resist? How do workers organize against injustice? Colombia: More than labor struggle!
Cookie Notice
Please select all cookies so you can experience L!NX at its best! We deploy our video and audio content via Youtube and Soundcloud! Allow our cookies if you want to see the full content! Cookie declaration
