Welfare Party of India strongly condemned the rolling back of labour laws and undermining workers’ rights to attract investors.
National President of Welfare Party of India Dr SQR Ilyas said: Even though poorly implemented, protections enshrined in labour laws served as safeguards for workers and trade unions, dismantling them would leave millions of workers acutely vulnerable.
He said during this unprecedented pandemic lockdown which was devoid of contingency, planning and preparation has upended the lives of thousands of working class, millions of workers have been left without work, food or shelter and which resulted in the mass exodus of migrant labourers from big cities to their homes and added that the government should have shown empathy and taken steps towards empowering them instead of looking for opportunity in crises.
He said the safety gears in the labour laws were a laborious task of years and to destroy them is a thought less act of a day.
Dr Ilyas denied that withdrawal of labour laws will attract big investments and boost industrialisation and called it a myth.
Dr Ilyas said abrogation of the existing labour laws would amount to abdication of constitutional right under Article 21 ie; to provide decent, safe and secure conditions of work.
He added that it is also abdication of the right to unionisation of trade unions and social security under international human rights under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) to which India is a signitory.
Dr Ilyas demanded that the state governments should stop junking labour laws amidst the Covid-19 crisis and added there is catastrophic impact of lockdown on the workers and this withdrawal of labour laws should not act as yet another blow.
