Great Bombay Textile Strike

Great Bombay stuff Strike TheGreat Bombay Textile Strikewas a textilestrikecalled on 18 January 1982 by the lollygag workers ofBombay(currentlyMumbai) under trade union leaderDutta Samant. The purpose of the strike was to obtain bonus and hire increases. Nearly 250,000 workers and more than 50 textile mills went on strike in Bombay. 1 History of move in Bombay Built in 1887,Swadeshiwas Bombays first textile mill, the first of the factories that spread overGirangaon, generally nicknamed as Bombays village of mills, in the next decades.By 1982, when Datta Samant led the textile strike, over 240,000 people worked in Girangaon. 2 Protests In late 1981, Dutta Samant was chosen by a large group of Bombay mill workers to lead them in a precarious conflict between the Bombay Mill owners Association and the unions, thus rejecting theINTUC-affiliated Rashtriya Mill Mazdoor Sanghwhich had represented the mill workers for decades. Samant planned a massive strike forcing the entire pati ence of the city to be closed shoot down for over a year. 3It was estimated that nearly 250,000 workers went on strike and more than 50 textile mills were shut in Bombay. In August 1982, the city police briefly went on strike, apparently in munificence with the workers resulting into the army and Border Security Force to be called in to control the unrest. 1Samant demanded that, along with wage hikes, the giving medication scrap theBombay Industrial Act of 1947and that the RMMS would not longer be the only official union of the city industry.While fighting for greater pay and better conditions for workers, Samant and his allies also sought to capitalize and give their power on the trade union scene in Mumbai. Although Samant had links with the Congress and Maharashtra politicianAbdul Rehman Antulay, outpouring MinisterIndira Gandhiconsidered him a serious political threat. Samants control of the mill workers made Gandhi and other Congress leaders fear that his influence would spread to the port and dock workers and make him the around powerful union leader in Indias commercial capital.Thus the government took a firm stance of rejecting Samants demands and refusing to budge despite the disgusting economic losses suffered by the city and the industry. As the strike progressed through the months, Samants militancy in the facet of government obstinacy led to the failure of any attempts at negotiation. Disunity and dissatisfaction over the strike soon became apparent, and many a(prenominal) textile mill owners began moving their plants outside the city. After a prolonged and destabilizing confrontation, the strike collapsed with no concessions having been obtained for the workers.The arrest of textile mills across the city left tens of thousands of mill workers unemployed and, in the succeeding years, most of the industry moved away from Bombay after decades of being plagued by rising costs and union militancy. Although Samant remained popular with a lar ge block of union activists, his clout and control over Bombay trade unions disappeared. 3 Consequences The majority of the over 80 mills in Central Mumbai closed during and after the strike, leaving more than 150,000 workers unemployed. 4Textile industry in Mumbai has largely disappeared, reducing labor migration after the strikes. 5