Ludhiana workers join Bharat Bandh, demand regularisation, worker friendly policies

Time of India

09-07-2025

Ludhiana: Several labour unions and employee federations in Ludhiana joined the '
Bharat Bandh
', protesting the increasing contractualisation of jobs, the dilution of labour laws, and "anti-worker and pro-corporate" policies of the govt.
They demanded the regularisation of contractual workers in the transport sector.
Jagtar Singh, general secretary of the PRTC Contract Workers Union, said that PRTC and Punbus staff were observing a three-day strike, highlighting that nearly 7,000 employees in both services continued to work on a contractual basis and faced acute job insecurity. He urged the Punjab govt to immediately abolish the contract system, eliminate middlemen, and regularise all workers.
Jagtar Singh said that drivers working under contract are often dismissed arbitrarily, without any serious inquiry or reason, leaving them vulnerable and underpaid after years of work. He also pointed out that the number of govt-run buses was steadily declining while private operators were increasing their fleet across the state. "The state must add at least 10,000 buses to strengthen public transport and stop opening space for private bus operators," he said.
Several workers gathered at ISBT and demanded that all workers, including anganwadi and ASHA workers, should be made permanent employees.
Hanuman Prasad Dubey, vice-president of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), Ludhiana, said the replacement of 29 labour laws with just four labour codes has worsened the condition of industrial workers. "These codes were passed without proper consultation and have reduced existing safeguards.
Now workers are being pushed to work 12 hours a day instead of 8, and yet the minimum wage has not been revised in the last 13 years," he said, adding that even the current laws that exist are poorly implemented.
Commuters bear the brunt
Meanwhile, commuters and passengers faced difficulties as less PRTC and Punbuses were in operation due to strike. "I had to go to Chandigarh, but due to the strike I learn, there were no govt buses.
So I'm forced to take private bus. Private buses take longer as they stop for longer durations and repeatedly," Gurvinder Singh from Bathinda said.
Protest was also held at Samrala Chowk, where workers from multiple unions gathered and raised slogans against the central and state govts. Labour leaders alleged that the policies of both the Modi govt at the Centre and the Bhagwant Mann-led Punjab govt were undermining workers' rights, decreasing employment opportunities, and increasing economic inequality.
The protest was joined by leaders and workers from various unions, including the Textile Hosiery Kamgar Union, Inquilabi Mazdoor Kendra, Lok Ekta Sangathan, Moulder and Steel Workers Union, Krantikari Mazdoor Centre, and more. Many of them addressed the gathering and criticised what they called the growing nexus between govts and large corporations. They said liberalisation and privatisation policies had left public sector institutions weak, and workers more insecure than ever before.
Speakers called for wider resistance against what they described as an attack on constitutional rights, livelihoods, and social welfare systems. Protesters also accused the govt of backing corporate interests and using communal narratives and repression to divide people and suppress democratic dissent.
Among the key demands raised by the unions were a minimum wage of Rs 26,000, repeal of the four labour codes, implementation of equal pay for equal work for women, universal ration cards, strengthening of the public distribution system and expansion of government jobs. They also called for loan waivers for workers and small farmers and an end to rising communal tensions.
Youth and farmers' organisations, including the Naujawan Bharat Sabha, Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ekta-Ugrahan), Democratic Teachers' Front, and Sangharshsheel Mazdoor Morcha, extended support for the protests.