1974 railway strike in India

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Railway Strike 1974
Date8 May 1974 (1974-05-08) - 27 May 1975 (1975-05-27)
Location
India
Caused byStagnant long working hours of locomotive staff
GoalsEight-hour working day for locomotive staff
MethodsStrike
Resulted inDid not succeed, emergency imposed
Parties

The 1974 railway strike in India was a major strike by the workers of Indian Railways in 1974. The strike lasted from 8 to 27 May 1974.[1] The 20-day strike by 1.7 million (17 lakh) workers is the largest recorded industrial action in the world.[1][2][3]

Reasons for the strike

The strike was held to demand an eight-hour working day for locomotive staff by the

Railway Board, a quasi government bureaucracy despite having become a free country in 1947, this had led to dissatisfaction among labour, especially locomotive Pilots.[5] Traditional railway union leaders too were starting to get distant from worker demands and closer instead to politicians, thus leading to further discord.[3]

The spread of diesel engines and the consequent intensification of work in the Indian Railways since the 1960s resulted in continuous working hours being extended by days, creating much resentment among the workers.

British India in 1862 in Howrah, and a number of strikes having occurred in the private railway companies that operated in British India, most of them becoming part of the Indian freedom struggle.[1][3]

As President of the All India Railwaymen's Federation, George Fernandes led the strike.

Culmination

The strike commenced on 8 May 1974. The strike was brutally suppressed by the Indira Gandhi government with thousands being sent to jail and losing their jobs. The strike was called off on 27 May 1974.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c Sridhar, V (15 September 2001). "Chronicle of a strike". Frontline. Vol. 18, no. 19. Archived from the original on 27 May 2012. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
  2. ^ "INDIA: Strangulating Strike". TIME. 20 May 1974. Archived from the original on 22 December 2008. Retrieved 11 February 2012.
  3. ^
    JSTOR 4395459
    . Retrieved 28 September 2023.
  4. ^ "THE INDIAN RAILWAYS STRIKE OF 1974: A Study of Power and Organised Labour". Indian railway employee website. Indian railway employee. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
  5. ISBN 8171675344
    .
  6. ^ Ramakrishnan, Nitya (3 June 2018). "Remembering George Fernandes As He Was, Before He Lost Himself". The Wire. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
  7. ^ "Looking back at anger". The Hindu. 6 January 2002. Archived from the original on 6 March 2005. Retrieved 28 September 2023.


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