Intensify struggle for defense of rights of workers and against present merger of labour laws into 4 codes: Amar Jeet Kaur

Ludhiana, May 7, 2022: “By merging the 29 labor laws into four labor codes out of existing 44 central labour laws , the Pro corporate government has further tried to marginalize the workers. The other 15 labor laws too are being simultaneously changed. With these new labor codes, the conditions of the workers will get further worsen who are already struggling hard for the basic sustenance of life what to talk of health care, education and other essential needs.”
  
This was said by Comrade Amar Jeet Kaur, General Secretary, All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) while addressing a gathering of leaders from various unions at a workshop organised by the Joint Council of Trade Unions Ludhiana. The code which gives the right to the employer with 300 employees to retrench, is a very highly detrimental as it will lead to total insecurity of jobs among the workers. The clause of fixed term employment will take away the job security and workers will be left at the mercy of the employers or the contractors. It is well known that, as contractual labourers, the workers have no rights or any benefits of increase in the wages or ESI benefit, or the EPF benefit or other Social Security benefits, which are given to the permanent regular employees. With this, most of the workers will come into the category of the unorganised sector where they already being highly exploited. Even the existing rules are not being applied to them because of corrupt practices in the system and departments concerned. The code on the Occupational Safety is totally against the workers. Since different types of work carries different hazards, so they are given amount according to the job they have been doing in case of any accident or emergency. Now all of them have been merged, and so workers in the highly hazardous sectors will suffer the most. She called upon the workers for a long, drawn hard struggle in the time to come against pro-corporate and anti-worker policies of the government. It should be noted here that these labor codes were passed in the Parliament without any debate and without any proper discussion, thus totally undermining the Constitution, which has become a practice under the present government. Therefore, the workers have dual task to perform. On one side, we have to struggle for the defence of our rights and on the other side we have to struggle for the defense of the Constitution of India which is based on secularism and democracy.   

Comrade D P Maur, General Secretary of the Joint Council of Trade Unions said that various unions are chalking out program to intensify the struggle in the time to come.  Workshop was organised by the PAU Employees Union. Baldev Walia of the Union thanked all participants.