All government offices and services, the Vizag steel plant andBHEL in Tamil Nadu, banking operations, most parts of Telangana and the whole of Kerala have been badly hit by the nationwide strike called by almost ten major trade unions on Friday. The strike was to protest against "Anti-worker" changes in labour laws like rising foreign investment in sectors like Defense and Railways, rising inflation, a scary unemployment graph and the Centre's "indifference" to their demand for better wages.

Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya had on Thursday blamed the previous UPA government for the issues faced by the workers and said the present government "doesn't want a confrontation with labour unions" and rather needs their cooperation and support. Public transport remained unaffected in Delhi and Mumbai, but public vehicles were nonoperational in Kerala and parts of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab. While ISRO hasn't allowed such strikes to affect their work as their vehicles move in convoys with Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) security guards. This time it wasnt the same. "ISRO has always threatened people who organize strikes using the gun-toting CISF security guards and hence we decided to block the main garage where 260 buses and 400 cars are parked. We will go away the moment the ISRO officials say they declare a holiday," said the CPM's Sivankutty.