Kerala would accept and implement the Labour Code, based on the idea of ease of doing business but denying several rights of workers, only after getting the opinion of workers, managements and stakeholders, said Labour Minister V. Sivankutty here on Saturday. He was inaugurating a two-day workshop organised by the Kerala Institute of Labour and Employment. A communication from the institute said that several of the provisions in the existing labour code in the country went against the principles of the International Labour Organisation. The Centre was not according importance to workers but to the interests of corporates, he said.
The two-day workshop on the Labour Code is an occasion to get the views of different stakeholders on the labour scene, the Minister said. The changes in the Labour Code now being planned by the Union Government could not be accepted by workers. The rights of workers were not being respected and the idea of a workplace without disputes would be held firm by the State, he said.
Elamaram Karim, MP, and veteran trade union leader, said that ease of doing business was at the centre of the new labour codes being implemented. The meetings of the tripartite Indian Labour Forum were not being conducted over the past seven years, he said.
K. N. Gopinath, KILE chairman, presided over the inauguration of the two-day workshop and executive director Sunil Thomas welcomed the gathering.
