Centre should establish 3rd labour panel: Ex-MP

Kochi: Following the tragic death of 26-year-old Anna Sebastian, the Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS) all India General Secretary and former Member of Parliament (MP) Thampan Thomas, has called upon the Union govt to establish a third labour commission. The purpose of this commission would be to tackle the exploitation of workers in new-age jobs, including those in the IT industry.Sebastian purportedly died due to job-related stress at Ernst & Young India in Pune.
During a press conference on Thursday, Thomas said, "The severe negligence in the employment sector is creating martyrs like Anna Sebastian. In the IT sector, it has become a routine to make employees work fifteen to eighteen hours under the guise of work-from-home, disregarding all laws."
Thomas said the current state of the employment sector requires a "second May revolution" as the existing labour codes have become outdated. He pointed out that legal protection in the employment sector has been stagnant for more than a decade and the labour codes introduced by the central govt are regressive and unacceptable.
"The aim of the current four labour codes is to facilitate business by removing worker protections and inspections, making the govt merely a facilitator for corporations. The new four labour codes were created by repealing 15 out of 44 labour laws and consolidating 29 laws. These codes are unscientific, unconstitutional and impractical," alleged Thomas.
According to Thomas the current labour codes infringe upon international labour conventions and human rights. Given these concerns, he urged the urgent appointment of a third labour commission to formulate new legal codes that consider all the employment sector crises. The veteran trade union leader also appealed all the trade unions in the country to discuss the matter in the wake of the demise of Sebastian.