THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI) has decided not to employ trade union workers to load and unload construction materials at worksites. Instead, the builders will deploy their own employees to do the job after registering them as headload workers with the labour department.
The decision follows a recent Kerala High Court order which empowers a business to register its own workers as headload workers and use them for the work instead of the union-affiliated workers, said S N Raghu Chandran Nair, general convenor of CREDAI, Kerala.
The decision was taken after the talks between CREDAI office-bearers and labour union representatives failed to reach a consensus on the charges demanded by the unions, Chandran Nair added.
The labour unions had demanded a 40% hike in loading and unloading charges. The confederation wanted the unions to drop the demand in view of the difficult situation the builders are facing because of Covid-related crisis.
During the talks convened by Thiruvananthapuram district labour officer, a rebel INTUC leader allegedly manhandled CREDAI Thiruvananthapuram secretary Arun A Unnithan. This prompted the CREDAI to withdraw from further discussions and take a hardline stand.
Builders take decision after talks fail; Trade union calls for unified charges
“We have decided to register our 5-10 employees and get them labour cards. After that, they will be doing the loading and unloading work and union workers will not be allowed to do the job. We have also conveyed our decision to the Builders Association of India and Vypari Vyavasi Ekopana Samithi,” Chandran Nair said.
District Labour Officer B S Rajeev said the discussions that he convened had failed and what transpired in the meetings had been conveyed to the labour commissioner. Rajeev said there has been a practice of attaching employees of firms as loading workers, but issuing them labour cards is the prerogative of the assistant labour officers.
State president of INTUC R Chandrasekaran said the state government should take measures to unify the loading charges. The CREDAI representatives had alleged that the charges in Thiruvananthapuram was on the steeper side compared to other districts and held this anomaly as one of the reasons for the confrontation with the trade unions in the capital city.
“The state government should unify the charges all over the state,” he said. He also rejected the allegation that the person who allegedly attacked the CREDAI representative was attached to his organisation. “The person, Chalai Nazar, has got nothing to do with INTUC. He is not part of any unit affiliated to INTUC. Those are rogue elements and we demand stringent action against them,” he added. The CITU leadership, meanwhile, said they were not aware of the fresh development.
“I have not much information about these things other than what I’ve read from the newspapers,” said CITU district president C Jayan Babu. Meanwhile, Museum police on Wednesday arrested Chalai Nazar, a trade union leader affiliated to the INTUC in the past, for allegedly attacking the CREDAI representative. The suspect was charged under non-bailable sections of the IPC.
Based on hc order