All trade unions in India united around a common agenda and staged a general strike Tuesday demanding workers’ rights and economic justice.

The Indian newspaper The Hindu reports that the solidarity of the more than 5,000 unions representing millions of members affiliated to India’s trade confederations centers around demands, which seek:

strict enforcement of all basic labor laws without any exception or exemption and stringent punitive measures for violation; a universal social security cover for unorganized sector workers without any restriction and creation of a National Social Security Fund.

India’s union members represent the nation's full political spectrum and Gurudas Dasgupta, general secretary of the All India Trade Union Congress, says the government’s economic policies:

have undermined the interests of workers to such an extent that trade unions representing the Left, Right and Centrist parties have been forced to come together. Such unity was not witnessed even during or after the Emergency.

For 21 months in 1975 to 1977, the Indian government declared a state of emergency and suspended civil liberties and elections.

Click here and here to read more about the general strike from the Hindu.