AIKS, workers' unions decry trade deals, seek massive participation in Feb 12 general strike

New Delhi, Feb 6 (PTI) The trade unions CITU and AIAWU, along with the AIKS, on Friday strongly opposed the recent India-US and India-EU trade deals and the ongoing negotiations with the UK, stating that they threaten agriculture, industry, employment and policy autonomy of the country.

Affiliated to the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) and the All India Agricultural Workers' Union (AIAWU) held a joint press conference in the national capital ahead of the February 12 general strike.

The general secretaries of the three organisations -- AIKS's Vijoo Krishnan, CITU's E Kareem and AIAWU's B Venkat -- called upon workers, peasants and agricultural and rural workers of the country to participate in the strike. They stressed the need for an intensified united resistance against the BJP-led Union government's policies, calling them an attack on workers' rights, peasants' livelihoods, public assets and national sovereignty.

The Joint Platform of Central Trade Unions (CTUs) and sectoral federations/associations have announced a one-day general strike on February 12 against the imposition of the labour codes and the trade deals. The call has been supported by the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) and the platform of Agricultural Workers' Organisations, which have also reiterated their demands, including for the legal guarantee of MSP, and rollback of the Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar Aajeevika Mission (Grameen) (VB-G RAM G) scheme.

"CITU, AIKS and AIAWU strongly oppose the government's pursuit of secretive and pro-imperialist trade deals, including the recent India-US, India-EU and India-UK negotiations, which threaten agriculture, industry, employment and policy autonomy," the organisations said in a joint statement.

They said these agreements are being advanced without transparency, parliamentary scrutiny or consultation with stakeholders, and will further expose Indian workers and farmers to global corporate domination.

"The opening of agriculture to the United States may prove to be the deadliest attack on the peasantry of our country. The India-US trade deal is also an attack on national sovereignty and security," it said.

The organisations expressed grave concern over the series of "anti-people legislations and policy measures pushed by the Union government".

"The central government has notified four labour codes, which will effectively snatch away the rights to association, strike and collective bargaining of the majority of Indian workers. The replacement of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) with the VB-G RAM G Act, 2025, dismantles a rights-based employment guarantee, shifts fiscal responsibility to the states, bans work during harvest seasons to ensure cheap labour and deepens rural distress," the statement said.

"The decision to allow 100 per cent FDI in the insurance sector, the proposed Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, the Draft Seed Bill, and the Draft Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2025 together represent a direct attack on agriculture, education, electricity consumers and public sector institutions. The SHANTI Act opens the highly hazardous nuclear power sector to private and foreign profiteers while absolving suppliers of liability in case of accidents, posing a serious threat to nuclear safety and national sovereignty," the unions said.

They also slammed the Union Budget 2026-27, terming it "anti-people and blatantly pro-corporate".

The organisations urged workers and farmers to organise gate meetings, village meetings and mass protests on February 9 and 10, in preparation for the general strike.

They also said workers, farmers and agricultural workers will assemble at more than 1,000 locations in large numbers on February 12 and demonstrate the largest mobilisation ever. PTI AO PRK PRK

Trade deals opposed by unions seeking mass participation in Feb 12 strike over labour codes and agricultural guarantees. Major workers' and farmers' organisations oppose recent India foreign trade negotiations and domestic policy measures as threats to agriculture, industry, employment and policy autonomy, alleging lack of transparency and stakeholder consultation; they demand parliamentary scrutiny, a legal guarantee of MSP, and rollback of the VB G RAM G Act, while contesting four labour codes as undermining association and collective bargaining rights and objecting to liberalisation measures across insurance, seeds, electricity, education and nuclear liability.