Members of the unorganised workers joint action committee staged a demonstration on Tuesday, against the proposed Draft Code on Social Security and Welfare.
R. Geetha of the Unorganised Workers Federation said the code envisages the dissolution of the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation and the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation, as well as the 34 welfare boards including 17 under the Department of Labour Welfare and another 17 boards under various departments. Instead, there will be one board at the State level and another at the Centre, she said
“If there is one board replacing all of the above, workers will face problems. For instance, nearly one crore workers will have to get registered all over again,” she said, adding, “Also, under the new code, they will classify workers into four categories not on the basis of their employment but on various other factors which are not acceptable.
“Privatisation of the board’s function is likely to happen and if it does, it will destroy the protection of workers. We are trying our best to stop this from being implemented. The proposal indicates there is miniscule representation of unorganised workers on the board; but the existing welfare boards, there is one third representation of workers in each board,” she added.
There should be 3% allocation of funds in the Centre’s budget towards social security, she said.
