THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Elamaram Kareem, the CPM floor leader in Rajya Sabha, has written to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh demanding immediate withdrawal of the Essential Defence Services Ordinance 2021 (EDSO). Kareem, a CPM central committee member, also termed the EDSO undemocratic and anti-constitutional. According to the ordinance, strike in the sector is illegal and it can attract dismissal from service without inquiry, arrest or imprisonment.
Kareem said the Union Government has come up with the ordinance when the major federations affiliated with the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) have announced an indefinite strike from July 26, in protest against the government’s decision to corporatise the OFB. Seeking to urgently withdraw the EDSO 2021, Kareem urged the Defence Minister to begin dialogue with OFB employees and step back from the decision to privatise Ordnance Factories.
ROLLBACK EDSO: BINOY VISWAM URGES PM
T’Puram: Senior CPI leader Binoy Viswam, MP, wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to rollback the Essential Defence Services Ordinance (EDSO) 2021 which curtails the labour rights of employees. “The ordinance gives wide-ranging and arbitrary powers to the Centre to intervene in industrial relations. Instead of dealing with disputes in accordance with the provisions of law, the government used an emergency provision of lawmaking to suppress the rights of workers,” accused Binoy Viswam.