Panaji: As part of a nationwide protest, the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) and its affiliated unions held a demonstration in Panaji on Wednesday, opposing the anti-labour and farmer policies of both the state and central governments.
Several protestors gathered at Azad Maidan in Panaji on Wednesday morning extending their support to the nationwide general strike called by Central Trade Unions and Farmers’ organisation to protest against the anti labour and anti farmers policies,
“How will chief minister Pramod Sawant defend the indefensible? The workers are made to work for 14 to 16 hours in the industrial estates without paying them for overtime,” AITUC Secretary Suhas Naik told the reporters at the sideline of the protest.
He said that so many complaints are filed against company managements by the labour unions but there is no action coming forward.
“The complaints are kept in cold storage due to which the workers have to directly approach the courts for justice,” he said.
Addressing the crowd, Naik accused the BJP-led NDA government of dismantling existing labour protections through the enforcement of four new labour codes, which they termed as “exploitative” and pro-corporate.
“These codes undermine decades of hard-won labour rights and increase inequality and exploitation,” he said.
Naik said that the state government has been repeatedly using the Goa Essential Services and Maintenance Act (ESMA), 1988, to prohibit strikes in the pharmaceutical sector.
He alleged that the ESMA protects companies violating labour laws and suppressing workers’ rights to form unions.
