United struggle key to save labour laws: CPI

Tirupati: Responding to the nationwide general strike called by central trade unions to protest the new labour codes, thousands of workers from organised and unorganised sectors took out a rally in Tirupati on Thursday. The rally passed through the main roads in the city and culminated at old Municipal Office, with slogans raised against new labour laws and demanding repeal of these laws.

At the public meeting held at the old municipal office, CPI national leader K Prakash Babu criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for scrapping pre-independence labour laws approved even by the British rulers and merging 29 central laws into four labour codes. He highlighted that millions of workers across India expressed their anger through this strike, with opposition parties amplifying their voice in Parliament, and stressed the need for united struggles against dictatorial policies.

CPI National Control Commission Chairman Dr K Narayanan recalled the historic fight for the 8-hour workday led by labor leader Subbaiah in Pondicherry before independence, now threatened again, and slammed the government for treating farmers and workers as corporate slaves.