Centre should withdraw fixed-term employment notification: CPI(M)

The CPI(M) today demanded that the BJP government at the Centre should withdraw the notification on fixed-term employment and ensure effective implementation of the labour laws that protect the rights of workers.

A resolution passed at the CPI(M) party congress here "strongly" condemned the decision of the Centre on extending fixed-term employment to all sectors through a notification amending the industrial employment rules.

"This Congress of the CPI(M) demands that the BJP government at the Centre immediately withdraw the notification on fixed-term employment and ensure the effective implementation of the labour laws that protect the rights of workers and provide them some benefits," it said.

Accusing the central government of imposing conditions of virtual slavery on the working class, the party said that the move is an integral part of the "neo-liberal" agenda of labour law reforms.

The Left party also said that the move is the BJP-led government's latest attack on the working class in the form of extending fixed-term employment to all sectors through a notification amending the Industrial Employment (Standing Order) Rules.

"This move is an integral part of the neo-liberal agenda of labour law reforms that are meant to impose conditions of virtual slavery on the working class," the resolution said.

Former general secretary Prakash Karat told reporters that the move of the government provides employers with the freedom to hire and fire workers.

"It is to be recalled that it was the erstwhile BJP government that first issued a notification introducing fixed-term employment in 2003. As a result of strong opposition and resistance from the joint trade union movement, this notification had to be rescinded by the UPA government," he said.

Karat said, "After assuming office in 2014, the BJP government, as a part of its measures to fast-track the neo-liberal agenda, notified fixed-term employment first in the textile and garment sector and then extended it to the all sectors."