Kolkata: Slamming the BJP-led Centre over “destructive” Labour Codes, Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Ritabrata Banerjee on Friday said that the government at the Centre was trying to evade some questions relating to new labour laws.
Calling the Centre “anti-worker”, Banerjee outside Parliament said: “I had sought the details of whether there was a discussion with the states before the Labour Codes were made effective and if any state had opposition to it. We were told there was extensive discussion. However, no concrete answer was provided when asked about whether any state had opposed it.”
“Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been opposing these destructive labour codes since the beginning. In 2020, these codes were passed in an empty Parliament. The Tamil Nadu government too had opposed this because this strips the workers and trade unions of all rights,” Banerjee said, adding: “Labour, which is a concurrent subject, needs the approval of states too. The Central government is anti-people and anti-worker. As long as Mamata Banerjee is in power, we will not allow this in our state.”
The Union government has recently rolled out four new Labour Codes (wages, industrial relations, social security and occupational safety and health) consolidating 29 laws to simplify compliance, enhance worker rights and boost ease of doing business by unifying definitions, expanding social security (EPF, ESI, gig workers), mandating appointment letters, setting national floor wages and decriminalising minor offenses.
Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee had earlier said that the Centre’s new labour code will not be implemented in the state. A copy of the new labour law has reached the state where new ‘conditions’ have been mentioned for disbursing funds for 100-day work. The Trinamool Congress supremo tore the paper related to this at a public meeting in Cooch Behar recently, calling the conditions imposed by Centre ‘disrespectful’.