Khammam: Trade union leaders stressed the need to be more cautious in the light of the labour laws being amended in the country. “There is a need to be alert under the Modi government,” said Kotha Sitaramulu, INTUC district president.
He said that workers achieved different safety nets because of the May Day spirit and laws were amended. He highlighted the Child Labour (prohibition and regulation) Amendment Act, 2016 which prohibits the engagement of children and adolescents in all hazardous occupations. However, on careful examination, the Act has many loopholes. It slashed the list of hazardous occupations for children from 83 to include mining, explosives and other occupations mentioned in the Factory Act. Work in chemical mixing units, cotton farms, battery recycling units, and brick kilns, among others, have been dropped.
CPI-M district secretary Nunna Nageswara Rao said that the NDA government amended 18 labour laws and workers lost their minimum rights of striking. The dadavai workers and hamalis organised various programmes on the occasion of May Day.
