At a time when the issue of relaxing labour laws in favour of industries is being hotly debated, it appears that not everyone within the ruling BJP is happy with such a proposal.
Senior BJP MLC Ayanur Manjunath has written to Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa asking the government to drop the proposal of relaxing labour laws in the state. Manjunath is seen as a Yediyurappa loyalist.
In his letter, Manjunath pointed out the relaxing laws at this point would put the job security of workers under peril and go against their rights. Moreover, such a move was not in sync with Yediyurappa's political legacy, Manjunath said.
"Your personality and image cannot be compared with other chief ministers. You are known more as a crusader of the rights of the vulnerable than as a politician," he wrote, urging the government to protect the rights of workers in this time of crisis.
An ordinance relaxing labour laws was expected to come up before the Cabinet earlier this week and it was widely believed that Karnataka will follow the footsteps of a few other BJP-ruled states. But the ordinance did not come up for approval, indicating that the government may have gone slow on this.
Meanwhile, the Karnataka Employers' Association (KEA) has sought relaxation of labour laws. "The Covid-19 situation has brought a sense of urgency in amending the labour laws to make it responsive to the emerging opportunities. Our existing labour laws being archaic are found to be woefully wanting," KEA president B C Prabhakar stated in a petition to the CM.
The amendments sought include doing away with the requirement for industrial establishments employing 100 or more workmen to seek permission of the government for layoffs, retrenchment or closing down. Also, the body has asked the government to permit 12-hour work in a day with four hours of overtime on a single wage.
Officials in the Labour department told DH that the issue was still under consideration by the government.