Indian Journalists Union extends support to nation-wide general strike

Hyderabad: The Indian Journalists Union (IJU) extended its unstinted support and solidarity to the nation-wide general strike on January 8 called by the Central and the Independent Trade Unions (CITU) to protest against the anti-labour policies and unilateral labour law reforms of the central government.

In a statement issued here on Monday, IJU president K Sreenivas Reddy and Secretary-General Balwinder Singh Jammu said the working journalists in the country were also strongly opposing the abrogation of Working Journalists and Other Newspaper Employees Act 1955 which gave protection of tenure and independence to the journalists.

"The Working Journalists Act was enacted in 1955 to ensure better working conditions for the journalists so that they could pursue their profession independently. It also provided for appointment of wage boards for the working journalists and non-journalists to fix wages for them at industry level to maintain uniformity. By abrogating the Act and bringing them under the purview of Wage Code and Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code 2019, they were reduced to the stature of cine and transport workers, ignoring the role of journalists in a democracy." they said.