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Guwahati: Ten major trade unions in the nation, including the AITUC, INTUC, CITU, HMS, LPF, SEWA, and others, boycotted pre-budget meetings with Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday, citing a lack of adequate time allocated to them to present their requests to the government.
The unions threatened to boycott the meeting in a letter to Sitharaman on November 25 after the Finance Ministry gave them each a minute to express their opinions to the Minister.
They had called the three-minute allotment of time for each union to present its budget proposals "a cheap joke."
The unions had also requested a face-to-face meeting with the finance minister to go through all of their specific requests.
The Ministry had scheduled a video conference meeting.
An INTUC leader said that the 10 unions skipped the meeting today and that the Finance Ministry phoned them to tell them that they will be told of a new time slot for a meeting with Sitharaman at a later date.
The ten unions have also called for a bigger budget allocation for MGNREGA, as well as for the scheme's beneficiaries to receive minimum salaries and the status of government employees.
Also, they have requested that the Minister implement a wealth tax and raise corporation taxes.
