Minister for Labour V. Sivankutty has said that though the State had notified the draft rules for the four new Labour Codes and sought various opinions, it did not take any follow-up action in the wake of objections from trade unions.
Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, the Minister said States were under huge pressure to frame rules for the four Codes in 2020. Following this, the draft rules were prepared and notified and opinions of various sections sought since Kerala was not ready to implement them unilaterally.
At a workshop in the State capital in July 2022 in which trade unions, management representatives, and legal experts took part, the trade unions had raised sharp objections to the ‘anti-worker’ Labour Codes.
Consequently, as the Labour Minister, he had directed that no further action be taken on the Codes as it became evident that a majority of the provisions in them could not be implemented. In the past three years, the State’s position had remained the same, Mr. Sivankutty said.
The State’s objection to the ‘anti-worker’ provisions in the Codes had been communicated to the Union Labour Minister at a recent meeting of Labour Ministers of various States in New Delhi.
The Union Minister had then replied that a meeting of representatives of trade unions would be convened soon to address their apprehensions as pointed out by Kerala. Instead of calling a meeting, the Union government had notified the Labour Codes.
Against this backdrop, a meeting of representatives of central trade unions in the State would be held on Thursday. Only after hearing them would the government take any decision. The workers’ rights would be protected, Mr. Sivankutty said.
The Labour department would organise a national labour conclave in Thiruvananthapuram on December 19 to draw further attention to the issue. Labour Ministers from non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled States will be invited to the conclave, he said.
The Minister pointed out that a majority of the States had submitted the rules for the Labour Codes to the Union government.
Mr. Sivankutty said during talks with the Chief Minister on the issue on Wednesday morning, the Chief Minister had directed the Labour department go ahead with the steps it had taken.
The Minister refuted the trade union leaders’ claims that they did not know about the notification of draft rules. “There was nothing secretive about the draft rules. These had been discussed at a meeting in which trade unions had taken part.”
Kerala had not submitted the rules to the Union government, the Minister reiterated.
Published – November 27, 2025 05:20 pm IST
