CorroHealth Layoffs: Opposition Leader Urges Govt Not to Capitulate to Company' Arrogance

Thiruvananthapuram: Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan has said the state government must not yield to the arrogance of medical coding company CorroHealth, which dismissed around a thousand workers in one go by shutting its Kochi and Kozhikode offices. He said he has written to the Chief Minister demanding that the government take an urgent stand against implementing the anti-worker provisions of the new labour codes in Keralam, and assured that the Opposition will be at the forefront of struggles to protect workers' rights.

Pinarayi Vijayan said the mass lay off— carried out using the new labour codes introduced by the central government as cover — cannot be accepted under any circumstances, and is a direct example of how the labour codes serve corporates at the expense of workers.

He noted that the previous LDF government had taken a firm stand that the anti-worker labour codes would not be implemented in Keralam, a position backed by Left trade unions as well. Since the new labour codes have not been notified or implemented in Keralam, matters must proceed under the existing Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. According to the act, such mass dismissals without prior government approval are completely illegal. The company's audacity in flouting the law openly, he said, stems from the indifference of the state government and the Labour Department. The government, he said, is standing by as a mute spectator while corporates push workers onto the streets.

He warned that the labour codes have effectively become a licence to dismiss workers at will, without prior notice or due compensation, adding that the CorroHealth incident shows how the new labour reforms will adversely affect workers in the IT and IT-related sectors as well.