08 May,2026 10:22 PM IST | Mumbai | Rajendra B. Aklekar
Railway unions commemorate 1974 strike anniversary (Pic/Special arrangement)
Marking the anniversary of 1974 strike, the National Railway Mazdoor Union (NRMU) on Friday organised a mass demonstration in Mumbai.
The participants, while marking the anniversary of the historic 1974 All India Railway Strike, raised concerns over the current policy environment affecting railway employees.
With a million railway employees participating with over 50,000 arrests, the 1974 railway strike was one of the biggest trade union actions that had stopped Indian Railways.
The 20-day strike lasted from May 8 to 27, 1974 and involved 1.7 million workers, one of the largest recorded industrial protests in the world.
A National Railway Mazdoor Union statement on Friday said that railway workers, even today, were facing increasing job insecurity, acute staff shortages, excessive workload and growing outsourcing in core railway functions.
The union also expressed concern over the privatisation and monetisation of railway assets, claiming these policies could weaken labour protections and trade union rights.
NRMU leaders, including General Secretary Venu P Nair, urged the railway administration to initiate meaningful dialogue with recognised unions and address employee grievances. The union warned that continued neglect of workers' concerns could intensify unrest among railway employees.
Narrating the history of the strike, Chodavarapu Sankara Rao, treasurer of AIRF and general secretary of the South Central and South Coast Railway Mazdoor Union (SCRMU & SCoRMU), said, "In September 1973, the annual meeting of the All India Railway Workers' Federation (AIRF) held in Secunderabad under the chairmanship of Peter Alvarez passed a resolution to go on strike from 8th May 1974. George Fernandez was elected as President of AIRF in that General Council meeting. Abandoning all hopes of a solution based on the promises and policies of the government, it was decided to start the strike at 6 pm on 27th February 1974 to fulfil the following demands!"
Rao while further briefing about the strike said, "The key demands were payment of a bonus to all railway employees, abolition of the temporary labour system, a four-point increment in pay every six months, temporaryisation of 5 lakh railway workers, establishment of foodgrain shops for railway workers, job evaluation and reclassification, and till upgradation and job evaluation, wages of railway workers should be paid at least at par with the wages paid in other public sector undertakings and allied industries."
"In accordance with the resolution of the annual meeting, AIRF held high-level meetings at various places across the railways and also convened meetings of high-level bodies. Subsequently, to review the situation with a view to considering further action, a meeting of the AIRF Executive Committee and General Council was held at Nagpur under the chairmanship of George Fernandes." Rao highlighted.
Finally, the much-awaited response from the government came from the railway minister, LN Mishra, rejecting the demand for a bonus to railway workers.
The General Council took note of the suggestions made by various unions affiliated with various central organisations and category unions demanding a change in the date of the strike and a common platform for the railway workers to take up the strike.
Accordingly, a National Conference of Railway Workers was held on 27th February 1974 in New Delhi. Railway sector unions affiliated to AITUC, CITU, HMS and BMS participated in the conference.
The conference called upon the Ministry of Railways to initiate discussions on the demands and reach an agreement by 10th April 1974.
In the absence of any response from the government, AIRF/NCCRS was left with no other option. Based on a six-point demand document under Section 22 of the Industrial Disputes Act, it called for an indefinite strike with the railway workers and fixed 8 May 1974 as the starting date of the strike.
It was also decided that a team of 12 representatives, two from each partner organisation, would hold talks with the Railway Ministry. However, the Railway Board also invited the NFIR, which was not part of the strike notice.
The then Railway Minister Lalit Narayan Mishra was supposed to hold talks on 1 May 1974, but Fernandes was in Lucknow to address a May Day rally. The Delhi Police went with his arrest warrant, took him into custody, put him on a Border Security Force aircraft and brought him to Tihar Jail in Delhi on 2 May 1974. Similar warrants were issued in other parts of the country. With the arrest of thousands of leaders at various levels on 2 May 1974, a strike began in various parts of the country on the same day.
More than one million railway employees participated in the strike. As a result, more than 50,000 people were arrested under various other laws like MISA, D&R, the Indian Penal Code, the Indian Railways Act, etc. Under Rule 14(11) of the Railway Employees (D&A) Rules, 1968, dismissal orders were issued in thousands of cases, and service break notices were issued to all railway employees on strike.
Despite the intensification of the strike, the strikers and their families were forcibly evicted from the railway quarters.
It seems that a few days before the end of the strike, during the night hearings broadcast on All India Radio, there were assurances that there would be no harassment.
Many employees lost their lives, and thousands were injured!
Based on the struggle, the railway workers were able to achieve many demands, including the Productivity Linked Bonus (PLB) in 1979. Such was the impact of that great strike by the railway workers in 1974.
