Sri Vijaya Puram, July 9: At the call given by ten central trade unions and several independent Federations and organizations in various sectors, crores of workers across the country went on one-day All India General Strike today (9th July, 2025) against central government’s anti-working-class policies.
In Andaman & Nicobar Islands, in support of the strike, mass dharna, procession and public meetings were organised throughout the islands today by trade unions affiliated to CITU. However, at Port Blair, CITU, INTUC – Federation and DMK Trade Unions jointly organised a mass dharna and public meeting at Tiranga Park, Aberdeen Bazar. Hundreds of workers from different sectors participated in the Mass Dharnba and public meeting. Mass Dharna was led by B. Chandrachoodan, General Secretary, D. Ayyappan, Vice President, CITU State Committee and KP Usman, President, INTUC-Federation, AL Kulandai, DMK Trade Union leader, M. Yugandar, BC Bhattacharjee and Anand Rajan of CITU.
On conclusion of the Mass Dharna, a public meeting was held at the Tiranga Park. KP Usman, President, INTUC-Federation presided over the meeting. R. Surendran Pillai, President, B. Chandrachoodan, General Secretary of CITU State Committee, Geeta Devi, President, A&N Anganwadi Workers & Helpers Union, Dr Gouranga Majhi, President, All India Kisan Sabha A&N State Committee, Mohammed Rafi and P. Kannan of INTUC-Federation and AL Kulandai and Senthil Kumar of DMK Trade Unions addressed the public meeting. SP Kalairajan proposed vote of thanks. All the leaders criticized the central government for pursuing various anti-working class and anti-people policies in the country.
At Diglipur, the workers took out a rally at Diglipur bazaar. Sunil Bepari and Barun Biswas, CITU Zonal Committee President and Secretary respectively addressed the gathering. At Mayabunder, workers took out a rally at Mayabunder bazaar and jetty area which was led among others by R. Muralidharan Pilli, President and C. Murugan, Secretary of CITU Mayabunder Zonal Committee. A large number of workers including Anganwadi Workers and Helpers participated in the rally. At Kadamtala, workers held a mass demonstration at Kadamtala. At Baratang, workers held rally and mass demonstration at Nilambur bazaar and jetty area which was led by Jayakumar, Daniel Aint among others. A large number of Anganwadi Workers & Helpers participated in the programme. At Swarajdweep (Havelock) Island, the workers of various trade unions affiliated to CITU held a mass demonstration in front of the Assistant Commissioner’s office. Suben Bachhar led the programme.
At Katchal, mass demonstration was held in front of the office of the Assistant Engineer, APWD which was led among others by Rajesh, Balmurugan and Thyagarajan.
At Great Nicobar Island, a mass demonstration was held in front of the office of the Assistant Commissioner, Campbell Bay under the leadership of Dhandapani, CITU State Committee Member and Siva Shanker of ASNVMS.
The demands highlighted during the general strike were (a) Scrap the 4 Labour Codes, (b) Minimum Wages of Rs. 26,000 to all workers (c) Restore Old Pension Scheme, (d) Withdraw the increase in the prices of petrol, diesel and LPG (e) control price rise (f) to halt privatization in government sectors (g) ensure remunerative prices for agriculture products (h) withdraw the Electricity (Amendment) Act 2022 (i) Stop attack on the Constitution of India (j) Stop outsourcing and contractorisation and fill up all vacant posts (k) Increase Tax on Rich and Corporates (l) Immediate setting up of 8th Central Pay Commission, etc. Besides, various local demands like (1) Regularisation of Daily Rated Workers & Contract Workers (2) Grant of 1/3th of pay plus to all DRMs and (3) strict implementation of labour laws, etc. were also highlighted during the programme.
Anganwadi Workers and Helpers were on strike today at various places like Port Blair town, Ferrargunj Tehsil, Baratang, Kadamtala, Mayabunder and Swarajdweep Island. BSNL employees of Andaman & Nicobar Telecom circle also joined strike.