Local laws changed in line with labour codes: Mandaviya

Hindustan Times

09-07-2025

Most states have changed local laws in line with the four stalled labour codes, including nine most-contested reforms being opposed by trade unions, Union labour minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Tuesday, a day ahead of a national strike called by workers. States that have tweaked local laws, aligning them with the federal codes, include both National Democratic Alliance-ruled states and those governed by Opposition parties, Mandaviya said. (ANI PHOTO)
Although the Centre has yet to implement the four codes, or laws, passed by Parliament between 2019 and 2020, 31 states have passed or amended legislation and rules to incorporate the main reforms envisaged in the codes, the minister said.
The minister however declined to say when the Centre would be in a position to implement the codes. 'We have not yet implemented the labour codes, but states have.'
States that have tweaked local laws, aligning them with the federal codes, include both National Democratic Alliance-ruled states and those governed by Opposition parties, Mandaviya said. The government is ready to talk to labour unions, he said, adding that 'their opposition was mostly political.'
Labour unions have continued to oppose the reforms, saying they were not looking to meet the government 'just to have tea'. A coalition of 10 national unions have called for a general strike on July 9 in sectors, such as banking, insurance and mining. Their demands include a rollback of 'anti-labour provisions' in the codes.
'About 250 million workers are expected to take part in the strike, including farmers and rural workers,' Amarjeet Kaur of the All-India Trade Union Congress said.
The Centre's codes are aimed at boosting investment and making it easier for firms to hire and fire workers, which has been cited as a key constraint in industrial expansion. They also lay down social-security benefits and higher overtime limits. These are the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020; the Code on Social Security, 2020; the Industrial Relations Code, 2020; and the Code on Wages, 2019.
Opposition-ruled Punjab and Himachal Pradesh have raised the threshold of employees at which firms will not require government permission to lay off workers, details from the labour ministry showed. Under the Centre's codes, firms employing up to 300 workers will not require government permission to fire staffers or shut plants, up from the previous cap of 100.
These states, along with Karnataka and Telangana, have also amended laws related to compounding of offences. Compounding under the central codes allows employers to settle certain violations by paying a fee, rather than facing prosecution. Kerala and West Bengal however have not eased this regulation.
Most states have tweaked rules to allow night shifts for women, while those with the ruling NDA-led governments have aligned most of their laws with the Centre's codes. These include employee threshold for retrenchment and those that apply to how a factory is defined.