Mail News Service
Jamshedpur: The Joint Forum of Trade Unions organized a massive protest across the Kolhan region on February 5, 2025, as part of a nationwide demonstration against the Union Budget 2025-26 and the implementation of the four Labour Codes. The central protest took place at Birsa Chowk, Sakchi, where trade union members burned effigies representing the Budget Proposal and the Labour Codes following a street meeting.
Speakers at the event strongly condemned the budget proposals, calling them a betrayal of the common people and a move to facilitate corporate exploitation. “The government is pushing these Labour Codes, which are nothing less than a death warrant for workers’ rights,” said one of the speakers. The unions also warned of an all-India strike if the government proceeded with implementing the Labour laws.
Prominent trade union leaders, including Binod Rai, Ambuj Thakur, Biswajit Deb, R.S. Rai, Parvinder Singh, Hira Arkane, Sanjay Kumar, K.D. Pratap, Dhananjay Shukla and several others, addressed the gathering. They criticized the budget for favoring corporate interests over public welfare, pointing out that it promotes privatization in key sectors such as nuclear energy, mining and electricity while failing to address employment generation, minimum wages and social security for workers.
The speakers further highlighted the budget’s failure to meet demands such as statutory Minimum Support Price (MSP) for farmers, an urban employment guarantee scheme and increased pensions under EPF. They also denounced the lack of relief from GST on essential items like food, medicines and health insurance.
The Joint Forum of Trade Unions called upon workers and the general public to unite against what they termed an “anti-people, anti-Labour and anti-national” budget and to prepare for further decisive action if the government moves forward with implementing the Labour Codes.
