New labour codes will turn workers into pawns without minimum wages, job security or social security: AICCTU

Other speakers at the event included AICCTU national president V Shankar and vice-president Clifton Rozario, who addressed a wide group of Karnataka-based workers ranging from HAL employees to irrigation workers.

The report, titled “Debunking Modi’s Lies on Labour Codes”, or “Karmika Samhitegalu: Modi Kattuttiruva Sullugala Anavarana” in the Kannada edition, criticised several aspects of the labour codes, including restrictions on the right of workers to strike for better conditions.

“In fact, gig and platform workers are not insured under ESI, and instead, the only benefit gig and platform workers receive is the right to be registered. No social security provisions are promised to them as a right. Instead, all the codes do is promise to roll out schemes with benefits without explicating the content of the benefits or the timeline for their rollout… The rights that already existed under the Employees’ State Insurance Act, 1948, and the Employees Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952, are not strengthened, they are diluted,” read the report.

Gig workers’ working conditions, account cancellations

In a similar vein, gig workers protested in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi, and Kolkata on Tuesday, raising issues such as the cancellation of accounts on apps they use for work and daily working conditions. Around 40 gig workers joined the protest at Bengaluru’s Freedom Park.

A coordinator with the Gig and Platform Service Workers Union said, “Companies block our IDs randomly without any reason. Ratings are also not clear, and there is also no security. They are calling us partners but not giving anything… When they implement new policies, they do not seek workers’ consent. They threaten us saying, ‘if you want to work then work; otherwise go out from the platform’.”