New labour codes will kill workers’ rights, says CITU

At a public meeting in Sangareddy, Centre of Indian Trade Unions State president Chukka Ramulu warned that the four new labour codes ease layoffs and closures, deprive contract workers of benefits, and threaten labour welfare boards.

Sangareddy: Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) State president Chukka Ramulu alleged that the newly enacted four labour codes would destroy the rights of the working class in the country.

Addressing a public meeting organised at the Sangareddy Collectorate on Thursday as part of a nationwide protest by workers, Ramulu said the Centre had paved the way for corporates to exploit the working class by scrapping 29 labour Acts and replacing them with four labour codes.

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He claimed that workers would receive lower wages with the minimum wage fixed at Rs 178 per day by the Centre and that industries had been permitted to extend working hours from eight to 12.

The new guidelines, he alleged, made layoffs, lockouts and closure of industries easier for management, thereby denying rights to workers. He further stated that the labour codes would deprive contract workers of EPF, ESI and other benefits.

Ramulu accused the Centre of conspiring to dismantle labour welfare boards. Earlier, various trade unions held a rally in the town. All India Trade Union Congress State vice-president Prakash Rao, CITU leader Beeram Mallesh and others were present.