Unorganised workers’ union seeks TN resolution against Centre’s labour codes

CHENNAI: After completing a State-wide campaign from November 6 to 26 demanding the repeal of the Union government's controversial labour codes, members of the Unorganised Workers Federation (UWF) and representatives of various sectoral welfare boards are pinning their hopes on a resolution in the Tamil Nadu Assembly to strengthen the movement further.

Members of the federations have appealed to the State government to make a policy decision against the Centre’s four labour codes and pass a resolution in the forthcoming Assembly session, like the one adopted over NEET. The labour activists argue that such a resolution would protect the 38 functioning welfare boards and their registered members and safeguard State laws related to worker welfare.

The labour codes brought by the BJP-led Centre are "pro-corporate", and demand puts the rights and livelihoods of unorganised workers at risk, they argue.

A delegation from the UWF, headed by its president TM Chandran, met with Chief Secretary N Muruganandam at the Secretariat on Thursday to submit their representations regarding the issue. "We received a positive response from the CS and the Labour Secretary (Veera Raghava Rao) during the meeting. The CS made it clear that action will be taken to protect the welfare boards," said R Geetha of the UWF.

The federation appreciated the boards being run in Tamil Nadu as role models for the rest of the country and urged for their protection. They have been steadfast in their protest against the labour codes even since they were announced in 2019 and 2020.

The federation toured 37 districts to explain to the working class in detail the adverse impact of the Centre’s labour codes and how they would dilute key State laws, including the Tamil Nadu Manual Workers (Regulation of Employment and Condition of Work) Act, 1982, the Tamil Nadu Fishermen and Labourers Engaged in Fishing and Other Allied Activities (Social Security and Welfare) Act, 2007, and The Tamil Nadu Agricultural Labourers-Farmers (Social Security and Welfare) Act, 2006. The workers' social security would cease to exist once the codes come into effect, while the State's authority to register workers and implement welfare schemes would be undermined, they allege.

The federation is also contemplating meeting prominent MPs, including Kanimozhi and A Raja of the DMK and Vishnu Prasad of the Congress, to request they raise the issue in Parliament. The federation's counterparts in other states are trying to reach out to some other MPs of the INDIA bloc.