Nokkukooli not a right, says Rajeeve

Kerala Industries Minister calls for creation of new opportunities for workers

Nokkukooli, or the practice of insisting on compensation for notional works, should not be considered a right. At the same time, workers’ opportunities should not be denied and new opportunities should be created, said Industries Minister P. Rajeeve here on Sunday. He was speaking at the inauguration of the second day of a workshop on labour code organised by the Kerala Institute of Labour and Employment (KILE).

He said even while trade union leadership was taking a stand against ‘nokkukooli’, there were problems at other levels. These issues cannot be fully addressed through legal means. He appealed to KILE to create awareness among workers, officials, and employers on various issues involved, said a communication from the organisers of the workshop.

‘Ease of living’

The State Government was bound to the promise of ensuring fair wages, he added. While the Union Government was focusing on ease of doing business, Kerala was trying to create ease of living through industrial progress.

The two-day workshop discussed in detail the wage code. The discussions covered areas like the Code on Society Security 2020, Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code 2020. Labour Minister V. Sivankutty, who inaugurated the workshop on Saturday, said Kerala would ascertain the opinion of stakeholders that included workers and the management. The labour code is steeped in the idea of ease of doing business but, at the same time, denied several rights of the workers, he said.

KILE chairman K.N. Gopinath; Elamaram Kareem, MP and trade union leader; and KILE executive director Sunil Thomas spoke at the two-day workshop. The proceedings of the workshops will be brought out as a compilation soon, the organisers said.

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