Kerala Labour Minister V Sivankutty on Thursday said the state will not implement the Centre’s new labour codes, PTI reported.

He said that the Union Ministry of Labour and Employment had convened a meeting of all states last month, during which Kerala reiterated its position that it would not adopt the codes, PTI reported.

On November 21, the Union government notified the implementation of four labour codes.

The Parliament had cleared the Code on Wages in 2019 and the rest of the three codes – Industrial Relations Code, Code on Social Security, and Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code – in 2020.

After their implementation, the four codes replaced 29 labour laws.

The Bharatiya Janata Party-led Union government has claimed that the reform is aimed at extending coverage of statutory protection, including need-based minimum wages, non-hazardous working conditions and universal social security entitlements, to platform workers.

However, critics have argued that the codes fail to extend social protection to the vast majority of informal sector workers, including migrant workers, self-employed workers and home-based workers.

Trade unions had in 2020 protested against the codes, stating that they allow employers to hire and fire workers more easily, arguing that they have no safeguards for workers, make it harder for workers to negotiate better terms and wages with employers and make strikes more difficult.

On Thursday, the minister also said that any future steps on the labour codes would be taken only after consultations with trade unions, The New Indian Express reported.

Sivakutty’s statement came a day after a joint forum of 10 central trade unions, farmers’ body Samyukt Kisan Morcha and members of the All India Power Engineers Federation held nationwide protests against the four labour codes.

On November 22, the 10 central trade unions in a statement had described the new labour codes as being “anti-worker and pro-employer”.