The Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) and its affiliated unions, including the Singareni Collieries Employees Union (SCEU), are gearing up to hold a series of protests in the industrial belt of the district on April 1 against the Centre’s four new labour codes.
The SCEU has planned a demonstration at the entrance of the headquarters of the State-owned Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) in Kothagudem on April 1 to press for repeal of the four new labour codes. Several other unions affiliated to the major Central trade unions have also drawn up similar plans to hold protests at various points in the industrial belt of Kothagudem-Palvancha on the same day, sources said.
The SCEU General Secretary M Narasimha Rao alleged that the move to thrust the four labour codes, replacing 29 Central labour laws, on the working class was an “anti-labour” and “pro-corporate” step.
Speaking to The Hindu, he said the move would “jeopardise” the hard-won rights of the working class and “curtail” the trade union movement. He said the SCEU will hold a series of protests across the coal belt region demanding scrapping of the four labour codes on Thursday.
