Palakkad: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has come out strongly against the tendency of trade unions deviating from their task and advised them to recognise the legitimate requirements of the employers, too. Speaking at the concluding ceremony of CITU state convention in here on Monday evening, the chief minister, also a member of the CPM politbureau, said trade unions have no business doing the job of middlemen bringing migrant labours to Kerala. “They should rather focus on organising the workers,” the chief minister told the thousands who gathered at Kotta Maidan after a mega rally.
The chief minister who has condemned the practice of nokkukooli is sharp terms in the past said the unions would accept the rights of the firms employing the workers and they need to give up the wrong tendencies while conducting union activities. Pointing out that a campaign was on paining the state as investor-unfriendly, the chief minister said the trade unions should work in a way that the state gets an image makeover for becoming an investor-friendly state.
“Unions should come forward to strengthen secularism among the proletarian class at a time when there are consorted efforts to divide the workers on communal lines,” Mr Vijayan said. “Now, we are passing though a time when people are killed for the food we eat and both RSS and BJP are trying their best to undermine the secular spirit of India. The Sangh pariwar which earlier attacked Muslims has now turned against the Dalits and the backward communities. And to enforce their communal agenda, they know very well that the working class needs be weakened. All these brings to fore the pro upper class face of the parivar organizations, ” Mr Vijayan said.
Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) would be raising huge funds for the developmental activities in the state in the next five years, he added. The three-day state conference of CITU, which ended on Monday, re-elected Anathalavattom Anandan as president and Elamaram Kareem as general secretary. CITU national general secretary Tapan Sen was also present.
