Hamirpur: CITU-affiliated unions protest labour codes

The labor codes enacted by the Central Government are like a noose around the necks of workers controlled by domestic and foreign capitalists, said Kashmir Singh Thakur, national secretary of CITU, while addressing a rally of affiliated unions in Hamirpur on Thursday.

He said that these codes replaced 29 historic labour laws that were won through struggles before and post-Independence, including the right to form unions that had fought against the British rule. Thakur highlighted the simultaneous three-day strike by 102 and 108 ambulance workers against the contract system, denial of minimum wages and job insecurity. He also criticised the appointment of the youth as jal mitra, pashu mitra, forest mitra and traffic mitra as proposed by the government. He added that the scrapping of MGNREGA had left the rural poor without livelihood support, worsening the crisis in their lives. He slammed the Electricity Bill, 2025, for privatising power boards and installing smart meters, which had sparked nationwide opposition.

Raj Kumari, district secretary of the Anganwari Workers and Helpers Union, said that the salary of anganwari workers was delayed by four months and now they were undergoing traffic training while mid-day meal and ASHA workers had also been working without wages from long time. She vowed to oppose the privatisation of social welfare schemes.

Earlier, workers owing allegiance to various unions affiliated with CITU gathered near the tehsil office and organised a protest rally to the Gandhi Chowk.