PALAKKAD: The Kerala Investment Promotion and Facilitation Ordinance 2017, set to be introduced in the Assembly, will be an acid test for the LDF Government. One has to wait and see whether its proposals introduced as part of ease of doing business will be passed, especially the changes made to the 40-year-old Kerala Headload Workers Act (KHWA), 1978.A cross section of the industrialists Express spoke to were apprehensive that labour unions will resist the bill to the hilt as they are used now to “nokkucoolie” and also forcing industrialists, mostly medium and small scale, to employ its workers at the rates fixed by them arbitrarily.
In the KHWA, it has been proposed to insert the following sections as 9A.
“Engaging the service of headload workers: Notwithstanding anything contained in any of the provisions of this Act, no employer is under the obligation to engage headload workers for the work connected with the establishment, such as loading and unloading any articles from or to any vehicle, vessels or any other containers, that is done either by the employer or owner himself or by engaging his own workers or by engaging any machinery”.
Similarly 9B says, “Every headload worker shall be entitled to wages notified by the government under the provisions of this Act only if their services have been engaged by the employer or owner of an establishment”.Kanjikode Industries Forum president V Ravindran said, “It’s the headload workers who arbitrarily charge rates that have stymied industry’s growth. Moreover, the present act is more than four decades old. Most industrialists fail to invest in Kerala, fearing strikes and problems related to headload workers. We hope the provisions won’t be watered down due to pressure,” said Ravindran.
Steel Manufacturers of Kerala president Mohammed Shafi echoed the view.“The dilution of the provisions of the Bill will send the signal to investors that Kerala isn’t ready to change labour-friendly laws,” said Shafi.Steel manufacturer Radhakrishnan, who is also the president of the Laghu Udyog Bharathi said, “A cordial industrial climate will generate more jobs, which in turn will help the headload workers.”INTUC state president R Chandrasekharan described the ordinance as anti-worker.
“The ordinance is 100 per cent anti-worker in nature and it’s an irony it has been brought by the LDF Government. The bill should be withdrawn at any cost. How can an employer employ his own workers. Such provisions will lead to loss of jobs. The INTUC has called a meeting of district unit heads on January 30 in Thiruvananthapuram to chalk out the course of agitation,” said Chandrasekharan. He, however, said the INTUC was against the “nokkucoolie” concept, adding workers who had asked for it in Punalur, Kollam and Alappuzha were suspended from the union.
CITU state general secretary Elaram Kareem stated it was the leaders of the Kerala Headload Workers Federation who attended the meeting called by the Labour and Industries Minister, and only they could give the details.C K Manishankar, the state general secretary of the Kerala State Headload and General Workers Federation, affiliated to the CITU, said, “The Kerala Headload and General Workers Federation will demand the withdrawal of the 9A provision of the Act, which has been newly inserted.”