Thiruvananthapuram | Keralam Chief Minister VD Satheesan on Monday said the state would implement Centre's new Labour Codes without adversely affecting the workers' rights.
At a time when the Congress national leadership is opposing the Labour Codes, Satheesan said they could not be left unimplemented in the state as they were laws passed by the Parliament.
In November last year, the Centre announced the implementation of the four Labour Codes, consolidating 29 existing labour laws, with immediate effect.
The move was criticised by the Congress as well as Left parties, which described the new codes as being against the interests of workers.
Addressing a leadership meeting of the Congress-affiliated Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) here, Satheesan said the Labour Codes could not be left unimplemented as they were laws passed by Parliament, but their implementation should not harm workers.
"If the Labour Code is not implemented, a situation will arise where there are neither the existing labour laws nor the new Labour Code. So, it must be implemented in a manner that does not adversely affect Kerala's labour sector or workers' rights," he said.
"It cannot be left unimplemented-it is a law passed by Parliament. Otherwise, there will be no labour laws at all right now, because this Labour Code was brought in by replacing the previous labour laws," he explained.
Satheesan said the government would take into consideration the suggestions made by INTUC while implementing the Labour Code.
"Therefore, while doing so, it must be implemented without harming the labour sector. To implement it, the government will seriously consider the valuable suggestions provided by the INTUC," he said.
He also said that if the Labour Code was not implemented, workers could be left without legal protection.
INTUC state president R Chandrasekharan, against whom the UDF government had granted prosecution sanction in a CBI case relating to alleged irregularities in the import of raw cashew nuts before and during his tenure as chairman of the Kerala State Cashew Development Corporation (KSCDC), was present.
Chandrasekharan showered praise on Satheesan in his speech during the event.
He said there was no need to explain the importance of trade unions to Satheesan as he himself had led trade union organisations.
"I don't think there is any need to explain anything to the chief minister of Keralam about trade unions. He himself has led trade union organisations. Not only that, we are all certain that the chief minister of Keralam, VD Satheesan, is an energetic leader with whom we have had the opportunity to closely interact the most," he said.