Unorganised workers launch indefinite hunger strike urging T.N. govt. to pass resolution in Assembly against labour codes

Unorganised Workers Federation (UWF) on Monday launched an indefinite hunger strike demanding the Tamil Nadu government to pass a resolution in the State Legislative Assembly urging the Union government to withdraw the labour codes.  

The UWF urged the State government to safeguard existing sector-specific labour welfare legislations and ensure the continued functioning of welfare boards for unorganised workers, including construction workers, agricultural labourers, domestic workers and others in the informal sector. They demanded that social security measures not be diluted under consolidated labour codes.

R. Geetha of the UWF said that for the past four years, unions have been urging the State government to pass a resolution on the problem. “Kerala and West Bengal have already done so. It is saddening that Tamil Nadu has not taken a similar step,” she said.

She added that the new Labour Codes were neither introduced nor drafted in the spirit of the tripartite consultation model advocated by B.R. Ambedkar. “As many as 44 existing labour laws have been subsumed under four Labour Codes. Several sectors have suffered as a result,” she said, alleging that welfare boards have been weakened and are now largely under the control of the Union government.

Pointing out that the Tamil Nadu government had previously passed resolutions against the three contentious farm laws, NEET, and the ‘One Nation, One Election’ proposal, Arul Doss of the National Alliance of People’s Movements said the State’s reluctance was evident only when it came to labour laws.

He noted that the new labour codes directly affect a large section of the population, particularly workers in the unorganised sector who constitute a significant share of the labour force.