The vice president of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions, A. Soundararajan, said that with crimes against women and children being perpetrated, strict action needs to be taken against offenders.

Speaking after a meeting of the CITU’s State committee in Udhagamandalam, Mr. Soundararajan said that it was distressing to see that crimes against women and children were on the increase in the State, with even members of the ruling party being allegedly involved in a number of crimes. The TVK should ensure such functionaries are removed from the party and strict action taken against them.

He also said that the CITU welcomed multi-national companies establishing industries in Tamil Nadu, but the companies and the government must ensure that workers are guaranteed fair wages, legal rights as well as the right to form and join trade unions. He called on the government to implement the minimum wage of ₹26,000. He also said that the four consolidated labour codes introduced by the union government were “anti-worker” in nature and undermined rights of workers. He called on the Tamil Nadu government to announce that the labour codes would not be implemented in the State, such as been declared in Kerala.