Latest news with #LabourCodes
The Hindu
28-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
CITU plans to intensify agitations for achieving demands of workers
The CITU district committee has resolved to intensify the agitation for achieving the demands of workers of various sectors, particularly those from Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP), scheme workers, implementation of minimum wages and revival of the old pension scheme. The two-day district conference of CITU concluded, here, on Sunday (July 27), where delegates reviewed the activities undertaken by the union in the last three years. Briefing media persons on the deliberations of the district meet, here on Monday (July 28), CITU district general secretary R. K. S.V. Kumar explained that the participants at the conference discussed the agitations undertaken during the period, including the ones taken up for protection of VSP and for reinstatement of contract workers, whose services were terminated, the Anganwadi workers strikes, which went on for 24 days, ASHA workers, Midday Meal workers, against privatisation of Golden Jubilee Hospital (GJH) of Visakhapatnam Port, for revival of the Building Construction Workers Welfare Board. The union had also fought for payment of ₹26,000 as minimum wage, provision of job security, regularisation of contract and outsourcing workers, and a general strike was observed on July 9 demanding withdrawal of the four Labour Codes, which were detrimental to the interests of workers. The conference has resolved to intensify these agitations further for the achievement of the demands of the workers. The conference unanimously elected a new body with 26 executive members and another 106 council members. K.M. Srinivasa Rao and R. K. S. V. Kumar were elected as president and general secretary respectively, and Jyothi was elected treasurer. A district-level seminar on the demand for withdrawal of the proposal to install smart meters would be held at Alluri Vignana Kendram on July 29. A dharna would also be held at the AP EPDCL Office on the same day. The 18th national conference of CITU is scheduled to be organised for the first time in the city, on December 4. CITU secretaries P. Mani and K. Chandrasekhar were present at the press conference.
The Hindu
27-07-2025
- Business
- The Hindu
Delhi govt.'s move to amend labour laws will strip lakhs of workers of their rights, say experts
Trade union leaders and experts have criticised the Delhi government's move to amend at least two labour laws as part of its 'Ease of Doing Business' policy, saying the amendments will strip lakhs of workers in the city of several rights. The first pertains to changing the applicability of the Delhi Shops and Establishments Act, 1954, to establishments with 10 or more employees. Currently, the Act, which includes several safeguards for employees, such as leaves, weekly holidays, and a month's notice for dismissal, is applicable even to establishments with one employee. The government is also planning to amend the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, which protects workers in cases of lay-offs and closure of units employing 100 or more workers, by raising the minimum threshold of employees to 300. Directions were issued to senior officials at a review meeting on June 30, chaired by Lieutenant-Governor V.K. Saxena and attended by Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, to make these changes, said a source. However, the government is yet to release any official statement on the matter. 'No protection' Anurag Saxena, CITU general secretary (Delhi), said introducing a threshold in the law will leave employees working in smaller establishments without any protection. 'Right now, if a person working at a small bakery or garment shop is fired illegally, he or she can file a complaint under the Act. Once the minimum threshold is increased to 10, workers at thousands of establishments with fewer than 10 employees will be placed outside the ambit of the law and left without any protection,' he said. A senior Delhi government official said once the four Labour Codes, which were passed in Parliament in 2019 and 2020, are implemented, workers in smaller establishments will be provided with 'some level of protection'. However, Mr. Saxena said, 'The labour codes could provide protection to employees in case of wages, but there is no safeguard for workers at a small establishment who are fired illegally.' Concurrent List The government is also looking to make changes to the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, which applies to commercial units across the country, as labour is part of the Concurrent List, which includes subjects over which the Union and State governments share legislative responsibilities. Currently, the Act provides protection to workers in the event of retrenchment and closure of firms employing 100 workers or more, as prior permission is required from the government or notice is to be given for such actions. The Delhi government plans to amend the Act to cover only establishments employing 300 or more workers. Professor Surajit Mazumdar at the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University, said an employee's rights do not depend on the size of the establishment. 'As things stand, many labour laws meant to protect employees are not enforced properly. And now if you remove the workers from the ambit of the law itself, the workers won't be able to even fight for their rights,' he said. The threshold in the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 has already been raised to 300 by the Bharatiya Janata Party governments in Gujarat (2021) and Assam (2018). The same change has also been proposed in the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, which is part of the four labour Codes, which have not been implemented amid resistance from labour unions across the country. Mr. Mazumdar said raising the threshold to 300 would be a way of introducing the labour Codes 'through the back door'. Gujarat had also amended the Gujarat Shops and Establishments (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 2019 (the equivalent of the Delhi Shops and Establishments Act, 1954) six years ago to cover units employing only 10 or more workers. 'The total number of employees in establishments with less than 10 workers in Delhi, who will be affected by the change in law, will be in the range of 7 to 20 lakh and the actual figure will be closer to 15 lakh,' said Mr. Mazumdar. He used the data from the Economic Census, 2013-14 and Delhi Economic Survey 2023-24 to arrive at the conclusion. Brijesh Goyal, chairman of Chamber of Trade & Industry, said the figure will be around 18-20 lakh workers, and Sucheta De, AICCTU national vice president, said the figure will be around 15-17 lakh workers. 'The entire practice is to keep most workers outside the scope of any legal protections,' Ms. De said. When reached out, the CM's office did not offer any comment.
The Hindu
21-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Any move to curtail trade union rights will be opposed: BMS
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat will address workers affiliated to the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) on Wednesday (July 23, 2025) during the concluding ceremony of the 70th anniversary of the Sangh Parivar-led trade union. Talking to reporters in New Delhi on Monday (July 21, 2025) about the event, BMS president Hiranmay Pandya said his organisation was open to work with other trade unions too on the issue of trade union rights in the country. He said that the BMS stood for workers' rights since its formation in 1955. When asked about the opposition to four Labour Codes, Mr. Pandya said the BMS welcomed the Code on Wages and the Code on Social Security. He said the two Codes paved the way for minimum wages and social security for every worker. 'Why should someone oppose it?' he asked. He, however, said the BMS had suggested amendments to the Code of Industrial Relations and the Code on Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions. When asked about the apprehensions of other 10 central trade unions that the Code on Industrial Relations could curtail trade union rights, Mr. Pandya said the BMS would oppose any such move and added that the union was at the forefront of protests against the present BJP-led regime too. The four Codes, passed in Parliament in 2019 and 2020 in the second term of the Narendra Modi government, have been opposed by various Central Trade Unions. He said the BMS had earlier worked with other unions and was still ready to cooperate with them. 'It is for them to decide if they want to work for the workers' interests rather than function based on political motives,' he said. On privatisation, he said the BMS was of the view that industries in strategic sectors should not be privatised.
The Hindu
20-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
INTUC asks Centre for invitation to tripartite meetings, blames Air India crash on privatisation
The working committee of the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), the trade union arm of the Congress, which met here on Sunday (July 20, 2025), has resolved to question the Centre's decision not to invite it to various tripartite panels. Pointing to last month's deadly Air India crash in Ahmedabad, INTUC said it was proof that the policy of privatisation is a serious threat to the life and safety of the common people. The trade union also favoured the formation of workers' cooperatives against exploitation by online and platform companies. Editorial | Need for a revamp: On the Ahmedabad air crash probe, aviation safety Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, who addressed the working committee, said the Centre is doing an injustice to lakhs of workers by not inviting INTUC to tripartite meetings. Claiming that workers are the 'vote bank' of the Congress, he said that the BJP-led government does not care for the welfare of workers. 'Anti-worker policies' The political resolution passed by the committee said that the workers and common people of the country are passing through a difficult situation because of the anti-worker, anti-people policies being pursued by the NDA government at the Centre. 'After it (came) back to power for the third term, the working class are facing serious challenges to all the basic rights of the workers, which include working hours, minimum wages, social security, unionisation, recognition, collective bargaining, agitations and the right to strike,' the resolution said. 'The recent amendment in the Trade Unions Act by the West Bengal Government regarding the the eligibility of office-bearers of the unions of industrial establishments is another threat,' it added. Another resolution said the trade union has been raising the issue of restoration of INTUC representation in various tripartite bodies, including in international fora. 'Since 2017, the INTUC has been denied representation on boards and committees constituted by the Ministry of Labour & Employment and important consultations to discuss even the Labour Codes and representation in International Labour Conferences of the International Labour Organisation, which is a discriminatory attitude towards the INTUC,' the resolution said. Cooperatives for modern times The committee noted that cooperatives can be spaces of mutual aid and collective decision-making, aligned with union values of worker empowerment. Opinion | Steps to reclaiming India's cooperative dream 'Cooperative formation gives access to state support (credit, training, subsidies), which many unions can't avail in their current form. Cooperatives can create sustainable livelihoods, especially for informal workers, gig workers, and platform-based labour where formal unionisation is difficult. In sectors where labour laws do not apply, cooperatives offer a new foothold for organising workers without waiting for legal recognition,' another resolution said. With growing informalisation, growth of gig and platform work, decline of standard employment, changing labour laws, diminishing collective bargaining, and the government's push for 'ease of doing business', trade unions also are adopting innovative organising methods. it added. 'No FIR on AI crash' On the Air India crash, the INTUC said it was unfortunate that no FIR has yet been registered against any responsible person or private operator, nor has any punitive action been taken. 'The lives of the deceased cannot be valued by just giving compensation, especially in those cases where the entire family has perished. The Government has not announced any kind of relief,' the committee said. 'This accident is enough to tell that when the important public services of the country like Airports, Railways, Electricity, Road transport, Health, Security etc. are handed over to private hands, then their purpose becomes only profit-making. Not public service, and security, accountability and transparency become secondary,' it added.
Indian Express
19-07-2025
- Automotive
- Indian Express
Workers in automotive industry face safety risk, as injuries rise 35 per cent YoY: Safe in India Foundation Report
Workers in the automotive industry continue to face safety risk, with a 35 per cent year-on-year increase in injured workers to 1,256 in 2024 as against 926 in 2023, a report released by Safe in India (SII) Foundation on Friday showed. Out of these, 875 workers reported crush injury (loss of their fingers) in 2024, a 15 per cent year-on-year rise from 759 crush injuries seen by workers assisted by the SII in 2023. More than 95 per cent of the injured workers assisted by it worked in 6 out of the top 10 automotive brands, it said. Supervisors often ignored workers' warning of malfunctioning machines, with 41 per cent injured workers aware of malfunctioning of the machines; of which 91 per cent reported to have informed the supervisor and were ignored, the report said. The Foundation's report, titled Crushed 2025, is the 7th annual report on worker safety in the Indian automotive manufacturing sector. Crush injuries tracked by the SII showed an increase and in two-thirds of these crush injuries on machines like power press, workers continue to lose two fingers on an average, the report said. More than two-thirds of power press defects that cause these grave injuries stem from loose or broken pins, keys, or springs, while one-quarter are due to damaged paddles, frequently resulting in double stroke injuries, the report said. Factories, predominantly, do not seem to have the practice of inspecting the machinery, daily before operations begin as required, it said. 'In 70 per cent of the cases, inspection of machinery is done only when not working or an impending external audit,' the report said. The higher the vulnerability of the worker in terms of lower levels of education, the worse is the rate of injuries suffered by the worker, it said. For instance, in Haryana, 59 per cent of the injured workers were non-permanent in 2024, while 86 per cent were inter-state migrants, with 77 per cent of the workers educated lower than class tenth. In Maharashtra, 77 per cent of the injured workers are non-permanent, while 80 per cent of the injured workers were inter-state migrants, with 74 per cent having education less than class tenth. While the report noted the changes proposed in the new Labour Codes, it said some of the rules, especially regarding working hours, have been changed in most states in line with the Codes, resulting in longer working hours without commensurate payments for overtime that often breaches weekly work hour limit. For instance, the legal working hours have been increased from 8 hours to 12 hours per day in many states but the weekly limit of 48 hours has not been increased. However, 'the reality is that 76 per cent injured workers stated that they work over 60 hours a week', the report said. Over 8,500 injured workers have come to SII, 78 per cent from auto-component factories, mostly on illegally operated power presses, Sandeep Sachdeva Co-Founder & CEO, Safe in India Foundation said. 'Women remain disproportionately at risk. Many employers falsify records and deny even basic ESIC (Employees' State Insurance Corporation) entitlements,' he said. As recommendations for improving workers' safety, Sachdeva said company boards should be made accountable for safety. 'Publish clear MIS on supply chain accidents; stop business with repeat offenders. Professionalise MSME suppliers, starting with Tiers 1 and 2, enforce ESIC and OSH (Occupational Safety, Health, and Working Conditions Code) compliance, align with global best practices,' he said. A joint task force can be created with the government and industry-wide skills and safety training programmes, especially on high-risk machines, should be launched, backed by honest audits. Aanchal Magazine is Senior Assistant Editor with The Indian Express and reports on the macro economy and fiscal policy, with a special focus on economic science, labour trends, taxation and revenue metrics. With over 13 years of newsroom experience, she has also reported in detail on macroeconomic data such as trends and policy actions related to inflation, GDP growth and fiscal arithmetic. Interested in the history of her homeland, Kashmir, she likes to read about its culture and tradition in her spare time, along with trying to map the journeys of displacement from there. ... Read More
