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The Hindu
09-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Bharat Bandh: No impact on industrial production in Mysuru
The nation-wide general strike called by the Join Committee of Trade Unions (JCTU) on July 9 had limited impact on normal life in the city and the industrial area in Mysuru. Bharat Bandh live updates - July 09, 2025 The objective of the strike was to draw attention to the 'anti-worker' policies of the State and the Central Government. One of the key demands put forward by the trade unions was abrogation of the four labour codes formulated by the Centre. The 4 Labour Codes Code on Wages, 2019 Industrial Relations Code, 2020 Code on Social Security, 2020 Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 The codes have been opposed by trade unions on the ground that they are inimical to their collective interest. The trade unions have argued that the existing labour laws evolved out of decades of struggle while the labour codes formulated by the Centre have left the workers with no safeguards in addition to curtailing their bargaining powers. In Mysuru, leaders of various trade unions and scores of activists from AIUTUC, CITU, and AIKMS, marched along the main thoroughfares of the city raising slogans against the government in Karnataka and at the Centre. Jagadish Surya of CPI (M) said the objective of the strike was to send a strong message to the government and to States where the trade union organisations are powerful, and the impact has been strong. Both the Centre and the State came under flak for weakening workers' rights under the guise of 'ease of doing business'. The agitating trade union organisations sought minimum wages at the rate of ₹36,000 per month, an end to outsourcing labour, hiring workers on contract basis, as trainees and apprentices. The government was urged to sanction pension at the rate of ₹9,000 per month for people employed in the unorganized sector as they had no job or social security. A few of the demands relate to farmers and agriculture. Trade unions want the government of Karnataka to rescind amendments to various laws that had a bearing on agriculture and farming, such as Electricity Amendment Bill, 2022, which, the workers argue, is an attempt to pave the way for privatisation of the power sector. The government was urged to comply with other demands of farmers, including minimum support price for agricultural produce based on the formula — comprehensive cost of production + 50% — proposed by M.S. Swaminathan Commission, withdrawal of amendments to a few laws, which have a bearing on agriculture, such as the Land Reforms Amendment Act, and APMC Amendment Act, by the government of Karnataka. Lingaraju, president, Mysuru Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI), said the general strike did not have any impact on industrial production, as only the leaders and office-bearers took part.
Hindustan Times
09-07-2025
- Business
- Hindustan Times
Local laws changed in line with labour codes: Mandaviya
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.
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Business Standard
08-07-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Nationwide strike on July 9: Ten trade unions protest labour codes
Ten of the country's 12 central trade unions have called for a nationwide strike on Wednesday to protest the government's failure to conduct the Indian Labour Conference for the last ten years and its continued decisions against the interests of the country's labour force. The unions have particularly criticised the 'attempts to impose' four labour codes with the aim of weakening the collective bargaining power of trade unions. The unions have said that an estimated 300 to 400 million workers are expected to join the strike, supporting the 17-point charter of demands, which opposes the Union government's policies. The ten trade unions, including the Centre for Indian Trade Unions (CITU), All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), Hind Mazdoor Sabha, and Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), have announced that their preparations for the strike, likely to be one of the biggest in recent years, are on course. However, the government holds that it is ready to discuss all provisions if unions offer 'constructive feedback,' rather than engaging in consultations with a zero-sum game approach. 'If we talk about labour codes, a majority of states have already made amendments in their laws, aligning them with the spirit of the Centre's codes. It's not just the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)-governed states. Many opposition-ruled states have also made these changes, indicating their recognition of the importance of investments, especially in the manufacturing sector,' official sources told Business Standard. In a statement issued on the eve of the strike on Tuesday, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-affiliated Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), the largest trade union in the country, announced it would not participate in the strike, alleging the action was politically inspired. Of the four labour codes, the BMS welcomed the Code on Wages, 2019, and the Code on Social Security, 2020, noting that the latter provided for the social security of platform and gig workers for the first time. However, the BMS said it had consulted with stakeholders and suggested amendments to the other two labour codes — the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 — submitting its suggestions to the government. 'In recent days, the government has discussed the amendments with owners and trade unions, but that is insufficient. The government needs to address the issue of amending these codes with more seriousness,' BMS General Secretary Ravindra Himte said, adding that other trade unions were misleading workers, and the strike was 'purely politically inspired.' In addition to the BMS, the National Front of Indian Trade Unions (NFITU) also announced it would not participate in the strike. In a joint statement, the ten trade unions stated that the government's economic policies were resulting in increased unemployment, rising prices of essential commodities, stagnant wages, and cuts in social sector spending, contributing to growing inequality. 'This strike call opposes the anti-worker, anti-farmer, and anti-national pro-corporate policies of the government,' the unions said. They have been fighting against the privatisation of public sector enterprises, outsourcing by government departments and public sector enterprises (PSEs), and the pro-employer four labour codes, which they argue aim to suppress trade union movements, erode the right to collective bargaining, and decriminalise violations of labour laws by employers while criminalising trade union activities. The unions have demanded that the government address unemployment, recruit in sanctioned posts, create more jobs, increase workdays and remuneration under the rural employment guarantee scheme, and introduce a similar scheme for urban areas. 'Instead, the government is focused on imposing the Employment Linked Incentive (ELI) scheme to incentivise employers,' the unions said. Workers in sectors including mining, insurance, power, postal, telecom, public transport, defence, and railways will strike on July 9, while unions in construction, beedi, Anganwadi, ASHA, mid-day meal workers, domestic workers, hawkers, and vendors will participate in mass mobilisation actions. The Samyukta Kisan Morcha and a joint front of agricultural workers' unions have extended support to the strike. 'We don't see any impact from the proposed strike. It is politically motivated, and the people behind it have been discredited. In fact, we have received support from over 200 worker unions across the country, many of which are affiliated with central unions like AITUC and INTUC, demonstrating that their own house is not in order,' official sources added. Trade unions had previously observed similar nationwide strikes in November 2020, March 2022, and February 16 last year. In a related development, Kerala Transport Minister K B Ganesh Kumar said state-run Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) buses would continue operating on Wednesday, despite central trade unions calling for a nationwide strike. The KSRTC had not received any formal notice from trade unions about their participation in the strike. "As far as KSRTC is concerned, employees are happy and content. The unions have not issued any notice. KSRTC buses will run as usual," he added.
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Business Standard
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Business Standard
Centre nudges states to implement new labour codes, shifts reform goalpost
During 2019-20, Parliament consolidated 29 labour laws into four codes - Code on Wages; Code on Social Security; Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code; and Industrial Relations Code Shiva Rajora New Delhi Listen to This Article Narendra Kumar, 41, has been working as a delivery person for an online food aggregator during the day. Evening onwards, he's a security guard in a nearby milk factory. 'I usually work 13-14 hours in a day. If I fall sick even for a single day, I don't get anything from any of my jobs. Or if I meet with an accident, as I did last month, my employers would not give me anything, as they don't recognise me as their employee,'' Kumar pointed out. His ask: The government must step in to improve the working conditions. Kumar, who is
Time of India
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Do India's labour codes address informal workers' needs?
Pankil Goswami is a PhD candidate at the School of Social Work, McGill University. He is interested in researching informalisation of work through labour market flexibility and the consequence of precarious working conditions among people who work at the bottom in the informal economy. His PhD thesis examines the intricacies related to access of welfare policies for migrant construction workers in western India. His research and teaching are primarily interdisciplinary in nature and focused on labour, social policy, work and employment relations, and the transformation of welfare state. LESS ... MORE India's new labour codes aim to streamline regulations and protections, but their impact on informal workers remains uncertain. Four labour codes passed by the Government of India in recent years are due for implementation. These codes mark a historic step in governing labour in contemporary India. They include the Code on Wages, 2019; the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020; the Code on Social Security, 2020; and the Industrial Relations Code, 2020. This codification is critical in ensuring that the informal workers of the country, who make up the majority of the workforce, receive due recognition and welfare. But how do these new labour codes address to the needs of unorganised workers? What impact will they have on the working lives of low-income workers? Are there any promising signs for this vast segment of informal workers engaged in precarious occupations across the country? The informal sector and the significant number of people employed in it are not new concerns in India. However, the labour codes offer policymakers an opportunity to rethink existing legislation and introduce changes that can offer relief to those who have been working in precarious occupations. India has one of the world's largest informal working populations. According to a recent estimate, the country has approximately 110 million informal sector workers, including those employed in agriculture, construction, and small factories; domestic workers; coastal and forest workers; ragpickers; autorickshaw drivers; street vendors; and power loom workers—a few among many overlooked professions. These workers are all around us yet remain largely invisible, especially to the state. Their invisibility manifests as a lack of written contracts, uncertainty in wages, irregular payments, and limited provisions for taking leaves. As of May 2022, more than 94 percent of workers registered on the e-Shram portal (national database of unorganised workers) reported an income of INR 10,000 or less. In many states, institutional structures such as the Directorate of Industrial Safety and Health, Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board, Unorganised Workers' Social Security Board have failed to provide informal workers with safeguards like guaranteed minimum wages, workplace safety, and pension benefits. For example, an International Labour Organization (ILO) report found that in 2022, 70 percent of workers in the construction sector in India did not receive the prescribed minimum wage. However, the new labour codes are being hailed as the 'biggest labour reforms in independent India'. The central government is positioning them as an effort to effectively implement minimum wages, ensure a safe working environment, and provide social security to everyone. If backed by political will, they present a watershed opportunity to provide relief in the form of social security. Major concerns faced by informal workers Informal sector workers are plagued by concerns of non-payment of minimum wages, deplorable work environments, unhealthy living conditions, and a lack of access to social security benefits. These issues were also highlighted at Labour Codes and Unorganised Labour, a two-day workshop organised by the Asangathit Shramik Hit Rakshak Manch (Unorganised Workers Social Protection Platform) in September 2024 in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. The workshop brought together 32 informal workers' organisations from Gujarat to bridge the awareness gap by deepening their understanding of how the implementation of the four new labour codes could benefit informal workers. I attended this event as part of a 14-month ethnographic study, during which I worked with Bandhkam Mazdoor Sangathan, an Ahmedabad-based trade union. I also spent time with a civil society organisation called Aajeevika Bureau. The ethnography aimed to deconstruct the lived realities of migrant construction workers in Gujarat and their access to welfare schemes. Here are some of the challenges raised by the workers at the event: Non-payment of minimum wages Although minimum wages are guaranteed through the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, many informal workers still do not receive them. Construction workers, agricultural labourers, forest workers, and many others complained that wage theft by contractors, middlemen, and even employers has become the norm. Precarious working environment Many informal workers work in precarious conditions (construction, power looms, fisheries, factories), where occupational health hazards and accidents are common. Some precarious workers have also lost their lives owing to the lack of enforcement of safety regulations. Substandard living conditions in urban India Many informal workers do not have decent living facilities in rapidly urbanising India. A typical example would be the living conditions of construction workers, who often seasonally migrate to big cities and are forced to live on the streets or in makeshift tents at construction sites. Lack of formal sector benefits Informal workers lack formal sector benefits such as written contracts, salaried employment, and safe and non-exploitative working environments. Additionally, they face constant uncertainty about work not being available for a longer period and even unemployment. In an effort to address these challenges, the Ministry of Labour and Employment launched the e-Shram portal in 2021 for creating a database of informal workers across the country and linking them to important welfare and social security provisions. Currently, more than 30 crore workers are registered in the e-Shram portal. Once registered, workers can access various welfare schemes, including the Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maandhan Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana, and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana. While the state encourages workers to register on the e-Shram portal, informal workers at the event indicated that they want the government to go beyond administrative processes and work on improving the social protection being offered to them. Unorganised workers' welfare board: A possible solution? The four new labour codes were introduced to rationalise existing labour laws by consolidating them under an umbrella legislation. According to the central government, this would help solve confusion related to the multiplicity of labour laws, while providing informal workers with much-needed social security and decent working conditions. The most significant code aimed at providing welfare to informal workers is the Code on Social Security, 2020. Under this code, there is a clause stipulating the formation of a National Social Security Board and a State Unorganised Workers' Welfare Board, which have been touted as critical to addressing the needs of unorganised workers. However, the Unorganised Workers Social Security Act, 2008, already provided a similar mandate. Although it has been a decade and a half since the act was passed, these boards are yet to operate at full capacity or generate any meaningful impact. The governments of many states, including Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, have formed unorganised workers' welfare boards. But my fieldwork in Gujarat revealed that the board has limited financial resources to formulate and implement welfare schemes. It is a mammoth task for state governments to operationalise state unorganised workers' welfare boards and run welfare schemes for them. These are some of the challenges: Understanding the needs of informal workers: Informal workers are spread across a wide range of occupations, and it is challenging to build viable financial resources to fund these welfare schemes for a sustained period of time. Structural transformation: Many professions that fall within the unorganised category are inherently exploitative. While these boards may provide welfare in the form of schemes, can they guarantee minimum wages, provide an accident-free working environment, and mitigate occupational diseases? Lack of clarity: Workers and unions remain unsure about how the new labour codes could benefit them. Effective dialogue with state authorities is necessary to clarify the various clauses and their benefits and gather feedback on which micro-policy additions can be made according to the needs of different occupations within the informal sector. Non-functioning boards: Some states have already formed unorganised workers' welfare boards, but they are practically non-functional. The hope is that the renewed legislation under the Code on Social Security will force these state governments to operationalise these boards, which have long been in limbo. Despite these challenges, the establishment of Building and Other Construction Workers' Welfare Boards across all Indian states offers a positive example to follow. These boards serve as dedicated public institutions and have gradually begun to facilitate constructive changes, primarily by running welfare schemes for migrant construction workers in the country. For example, the board mandates the collection of a cess from construction sites, which funds welfare initiatives for construction workers. Each state's Building and Other Construction Workers' Welfare Board will finance its welfare schemes through this tax mechanism. But as far as other unorganised workers (that is, those not engaged in construction work) are concerned, a similar system would need to be established. Devising such a mechanism is highly challenging due to the range of occupations and the informality that defines them. In such cases, state governments must provide the financial resources necessary for running welfare schemes. However, funding such resources has become a matter of public debate, as exemplified by the recent discourse on freebies. A potential roadmap for the future The four new labour codes present a crucial opportunity for unorganised workers to collectively organise and meaningfully engage with the state to put forward their demands. The codes were introduced with the promise of universalising minimum wages and ensuring the timely payment of wages. The consolidation of 29 existing laws into four comprehensive codes is meant to uphold the dignity of unorganised workers across the country. The need of the hour, however, is for workers and organisations that advocate for workers' rights to hold public institutions such as the welfare boards accountable. These labour codes are unlikely to make a difference until the central and state governments actively participate in dialogue with unorganised workers and their unions to understand their demands. This would help the state identify sector-specific challenges and determine the necessary steps to improve working conditions and design appropriate schemes. A strong political will is critical to understanding and meeting the needs of unorganised workers. Without it, the new labour codes are toothless. This article was originally published on India Development Review. Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Disclaimer Views expressed above are the author's own.
