[1][2][3] The strike was held to demand an eight-hour working day for locomotive staff by the All India Railwaymen's Federation and 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.
[5] Traditional railway union leaders too were starting to get distant from worker demands and closer instead to politicians, thus leading to further discord.
[6] The Railways, although government-owned, remained an organization in which the accepted worldwide standard of an eight-hour working day was violated with impunity.
[3] When the crafts unions raised the issue, they demanded a 12-hour working day for loco running staff.
The strike was brutally suppressed by the Indira Gandhi government with thousands being sent to jail and losing their jobs.