Gadwal: Amid growing concerns over the central government's labour law amendments, state vice president of CITU, P. Jayalakshmi, alleged that these changes are a conspiracy to reduce current and future workers to the status of slaves under the control of employers and investors. She was speaking as the chief guest at a preparatory district-level meeting held at Valmiki Community Hall on Monday, chaired by TUCI district secretary M. Krishna.

Jayalakshmi strongly criticized the Centre’s anti-labour and anti-people policies, calling for a united and successful nationwide general strike on May 20 under the aegis of national trade unions. She urged the working class across the district to actively participate in the protest.

Highlighting the gravity of the amendments, she stated that the Centre is denying minimum wages to workers while simultaneously curbing their rights to form unions and express dissent. The new amendments, she warned, would result in a drastic increase in work hours from 8 to 12 per day, solely for the benefit of corporate profits.

Jayalakshmi argued that the amendments would lead to wealth concentration and deepen socio-economic inequalities. If the working class fails to resist these changes, they risk becoming modern-day slaves to corporate interests. She also criticized the government's push for privatization and warned that these reforms might even affect job reservations, increasing social discrimination.

Trade union leaders B. Anjaneyulu, Hanmanthu Krishna, A. Venkataswamy, V.V. Narasimha, and Haleem Pasha from AITUC, TUCI, CITU, and IFTU emphasized the importance of grassroots mobilization. They resolved to take the message of the general strike to every village in the district and fight unitedly for the rights of organized and unorganized sector workers.

They also appealed to rural farmers to support and participate in the strike to ensure its success. Union leaders including Sunitha, Padmamma, Elkoor Ranganna, Upper Narasimha, Chintarevula Krishna, Chandramouli, Sunitha, Gattanna, Dharmanna, Ranganna, and Ram Anjaneyulu were present at the meeting.