The 1974 railway strike in India was a major

strike Strike may refer to: People *Strike (surname) * Hobart Huson, author of several drug related books Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm * Airstrike, ...

by the workers of

Indian Railways Indian Railways is a state-owned enterprise that is organised as a departmental undertaking of the Ministry of Railways (India), Ministry of Railways of the Government of India and operates India's national railway system. , it manages the fou ...

in 1974. The strike lasted from 8 to 27 May 1974. The 20-day strike by 1.7 million (17 lakh) workers is the largest recorded

industrial action Industrial action (British English) or job action (American English) is a temporary show of dissatisfaction by employees—especially a strike or slowdown or working to rule—to protest against bad working conditions or low pay and to increas ...

in the world.

Reasons for the strike

The strike was held to demand an eight-hour working day for locomotive staff by the All India Railwaymen's Federation a raise in pay scale, which had remained stagnant over many years, in spite of the fact that pay scales of other government owned entities had risen over the years. Furthermore, since British times the Railways termed the work of the locomotive staff as "continuous", implying that workers would have to remain at work as long as the train ran on its trip, often for several days at a stretch. The

independence of India The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events in South Asia with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British colonial rule. It lasted until 1947, when the Indian Independence Act 1947 was passed. The first nationalistic ...

did not change this. The eight hour work day had not been implemented in Indian railways by the

Railway Board The Ministry of Railways is a ministry in the Government of India, responsible for the rail transport in India, country's rail transport. The Indian Railways is the rail network operated and administered by the Railway Board constituted by t ...

, a quasi government bureaucracy despite having become a free country in 1947, this had led to dissatisfaction among labour, especially locomotive Pilots. Traditional railway union leaders too were starting to get distant from worker demands and closer instead to politicians, thus leading to further discord. 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. The Railways, although government-owned, remained an organization in which the accepted worldwide standard of an eight-hour working day was violated with impunity. When the crafts unions raised the issue, they demanded a 12-hour working day for loco running staff. This led to railway strikes by rail workers across the country in 1967, 1968, 1970 and 1973, finally leading to the 1974 strike which was participated in by 70% of the permanent work force of railways. This was not the first railways strike in India, the earliest having occurred in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

in 1862 in

Howrah Howrah (; ; alternatively spelled as Haora) is a city in the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. Howrah is located on the western bank of the Hooghly River, opposite to its twin city of Kolkata. Administratively ...

, 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. As President of the All India Railwaymen's Federation,

George Fernandes George Mathew Fernandes (3 June 1930 – 29 January 2019) was an Indian politician, trade unionist, statesman, and journalist, who served as the Minister of Defence (India), Defence Minister of India from 1998 until 2004. A veteran socialist, h ...

led the strike.

Culmination

The strike commenced on 8 May 1974. The strike was brutally suppressed by the

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and stateswoman who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 un ...

government with thousands being sent to jail and losing their jobs. The strike was called off on 27 May 1974.

References

{{Reflist Railway Strike In India, 1974 Railway Strike In India, 1974 Railway strike in India History of the Republic of India Indira Gandhi administration Railway strike in India Rail transport strikes in India