Central trade unions call for a nationwide strike on May 20

The joint platform of 10-central trade unions, barring the RSS-affiliate Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh, have urged the government to scrap the four labour codes while calling for a nationwide general strike on May 20, 2025 against ‘the anti-worker and pro-corporate’ policies of the government.

A decision to this effect was taken at the national convention of workers held on Tuesday by the joint platform of central trade unions and independent sectoral federations and associations.

The 10 central trade unions included AITUC, HMS, CITU, INTUC, AIUTUC, TUCC, SEWA, AICCTU, LPF and UTUC.


“The platform of central trade unions and independent sectoral federations and associations adopted a declaration with a call for a two-month long campaign to culminate in a nationwide general strike on May 20, 2025,” the unions said in a joint statement issued after the convention.

According to the statement, the convention upheld its earlier charter of demands formulated by the joint platform of trade unions covering the basic rights to lives and livelihood of the working people of both the organized and unorganized sector and self-employed occupations.

“In order to pursue struggle to realise these demands, the implementation of Labour Codes must be stalled and decisively defeated through countrywide united

struggles of defiance and resistance by the working class both at national level united actions and also through united sectoral resistance,” it said, urging all workers to join the movement and the national strike on May 20, 2025.

“The national convention asserts that the resistance struggle to defeat and scrap the Labour Codes has become central prerequisite in the united struggle of the

working class to achieve their just and legitimate charter of demands for a decent and humane working life and also their right to quality employment,” it added.

The other demands of the joint platform of central trade unions include enhancing allocation to the employment guarantee scheme while increasing the work days from 100 to 200 and scrapping the new pension scheme, among others.