The unions, including the Congress-backed INTUC, broke convention by handing a memorandum stating their demands to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar rather than Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Such demands are usually first brought before the government.
“The Prime Minister has done nothing about our demands. It appears that he has a no-care attitude towards us. We want the highest institution of democracy — Parliament — to intervene and prevail upon the government,” said AITUC general secretary Gurudas Dasgupta.
The trade union leaders submitted the memorandum after staging a demonstration outside Parliament against price rise and the policies of the UPA government.
They urged the Lok Sabha Speaker to prevail upon the government to take corrective policy measures.
Congress backed INTUC shared the dais with Left trade unions and the SUCI — an ally of Mamata Banerjee-supported UTUC.
INTUC president and Congress MP G. Sanjeeva Reddy said he joined the protest because the UPA government was not acting on the demands of the trade unions in the interests of the workers.
“Leaders of Congress party are first servants of people. Due to price rise and unemployment, people are being forced to die and so we have joined the protest,” Reddy said.