On August 7th at Central Railway Workshop Hall in Matunga, Mumbai, hundreds of trade union activists gathered in a convention organized by the Trade Unions Joint Action Committee (TUJAC) as part of preparation of the All India Strike on August 20th.

Among them were electricity workers, central and state government employees, postal employees, defence employees, insurance workers, railway workers, textile workers, college teachers, airport workers, domestic workers and  municipal sanitation department workers.

The convention was addressed by Comrade Mathew of Kamgar Ekta Chalwal, Comrade KL Bajaj, President of CITU, Maharashtra, Comrade Sukumar Damle, General Secretary of AITUC, Maharashtra, RP Singh, General Secretary of Central Government Employees Federation, PR Menon, General Secretary of NRMU, S Nanal, General Secretary of All India Insurance Employees Association,  GR Karad, General Secretary. of CITU, MA Patil of Sarva Shramik Sangh, GK Rahate Genral Secretary, National Federation of Postal Employees, Babli Rawat of Domestic Workers Union, Muttu of All India Defence Employees Federation, Dumal of Sarva Shramik Sangathan, Dilip Gujar of Airport Authority Employees Union, and Dada Samant of Kamgar Aghadi.

In their speeches, the leaders brought out the all sided attacks of the UPA government on the rights and livelihood of the workers and working people. No section of the working class and people was being spared. The representative of postal workers declared that 6 lakh postal workers would be participating in the all India strike. The representative of the defence sector workers declared that the 4 lakh defence sector workers had decided on July 27 to join the All India general strike. The representative of the airport workers declared that the workers of the 135 airports of our country had issued strike notice. The representative of railway workers declared that thousands of railway workers would gather in Azad maidan on the day of the strike.

Hailing the unity of workers and their determination to fight the onslaught of the bourgeoisie, Comrade Matthew drew important lessons from the struggle of the working class of the recent period. He pointed out that it was necessary to build the united front of the class without the bourgeoisie and against the bourgeoisie. He also elaborated on the program of the working class in this period.

The successful Convention of workers in Mumbai is an indicator that the workers in Maharashtra, cutting across sectors, are actively preparing to make the August 20 All India General strike a grand success.