Balakrishna Shetty, State secretary of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions, has slammed the Union government for its proposal to introduce labour reforms.
In the name of facilitating investment, the Centre was taking decisions detrimental to the interests of workers, Mr. Shetty said. The slew of labour reforms includes amending the law to permit the factories employing less than 300 workers to layoff workers without seeking government approval.
Trade unions across the nation should come together and oppose these “inhuman” labour reforms, he said at the district-level convention of workers organised by Joint Committee of Trade Unions in the city on Sunday.
The Centre has also proposed to amend the Factories Act and Apprentices Act, which would let factories have around 30 per cent of the total workforce as apprentices. It is a ploy to deny fair remuneration for workers, he said.
The gap between the profit earned by the employer and the wage paid for the employee is widening after the liberalisation of Indian economy, he said.
The functionaries of the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangha and the All-India Trade Union Congress attended the convention.
