THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Even as Labour Minister Shibu Baby John retracted his statement on daily wages of Plantation workers following wide-spread criticism, Opposition Leader V S Achuthanandan came down heavily on the Minister stating that Shibu was speaking like a businessman. Slamming the minister for his controversial remark, VS said the Minister’s remark had proved that he was in no way eligible to hold the minister’s post.
Accusing the minister of trying to sabotage the decisions taken earlier, Achuthanandan demanded the Labour Minister to stay away from the Plantation Labour Committee(PLC) meet on September 26.
“As a Minister, he’s responsible to address the workers’ issues and acknowledge their reasonable demands and rights. However, right from the beginning, he has been actinig as a spokesperson of the employers. His words are often unbecoming of an administrator committed to the public and workers, and more like that of a businessman,” VS said.
The Opposition Leader pointed out that as per the agreement made the other day, the issue of fixing the daily wages at Rs 500 would come before the Plantation Labour Committee meet on September 26. The Labour Minister stating that hiking the wages would be dangerous is part of an attempt to turn the tables in favour of the company management, and sabotage the decisions taken during the Chief Minister-level talks on Sunday.
