Opposition in RS comes down heavily on the government over labour codes
text_fields
New Delhi: The Opposition on Wednesday in Rajya Sabha turned the business-end of criticism against the government for the rising unemployment and job losses.
Lawmakers in the Opposition benches accused the government of framing policies to help corporates, harming the interests of the working class, Indian Express reported.
Rajya Sabha discussed the issues of working class a day after trade unions, barring RSS-leaning Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), observed two days nationwide shutdown, demanding the government to address labours' grievances.
Lawmakers criticised the government for failing to hold the Indian Labour Conference since 2015. It is the apex level tripartite consultative committee in the Ministry of Labour and Employment, according to the report.
The Opposition called out the government for not consulting trade unions before finalizing the four labour codes.
Accusing the government of moving on corporate path, Congress lawmaker Digvijaya Singh said there were no proper consultations regarding labour codes and even BMS was also opposing it.
He said that there was a corporate Sangh in the BJP working for the corporate sector.
DMK lawmaker M Shanmugam asked why the government was afraid of trade unions, pointing out that tripartite meetings had been held in the Indian Labour Conference since 1940.
All the 44 labour laws came into being after decisions were taken at such meetings and they became laws after passed by Parliament, he added that the process has been stopped.
Singh pointed out that the trade unions are demanding to scrap the labour codes, halt the privatisation and disinvestment drive, and steps to contain price rise, the report said.
CPM lawmaker Elamaram Kareem said that the government was implementing the policy designed by corporates and international capitalists, pushing workforce to the margin.
BJP member Prakash Javadekar stressed the need for reskilling and upskilling and added that people were going for upskilling after working for ten years.
He said that economic growth created jobs, rejecting the Opposition charge of employment and job loss.