More than five years after being cleared by Parliament, four labour codes covering wages, industrial relations, social security and working conditions were notified by the BJP-led Centre for implementation last Friday.
These codes, replacing 29 Central labour laws, seek to modernise labour regulations, ease compliance burden, widen the social security net for workers, including gig and platform workers, boost female labour force participation and bring fixed-term employees on par with permanent employees.
The government is also going to start the process of framing rules for the codes soon. Welcoming their implementation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the codes as “one of the most comprehensive and progressive labour-oriented reforms since Independence”.
However, the Opposition parties, including the Congress and the Left, have targeted the government over the issue, questioning the effectiveness of the codes in “ensuring justice for workers”.
Ten central trade unions (CTUs), in a joint statement, condemned the “blatantly unilateral implementation of anti-worker, pro-employer labour codes”.
Parliament passed the Code on Wages in July-August 2019. Three other labour reform Bills — the Industrial Relations Code, Social Security Code, and Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code — were passed by both Houses of Parliament in September 2020 amid a boycott by the Opposition parties, which were protesting the suspension of eight MPs for the remainder of the monsoon session for “unruly behaviour”.
During the passage of the three Bills, then Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Labour and Employment, Santosh Gangwar, told the Rajya Sabha that the Bills will prove to be a “game changer” in the labour welfare reforms covering more than 50 crore organised and unorganised workers in the country.
Ten CTUs, including those affiliated to various Opposition parties – the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), All India United Trade Union Centre (AIUTUC), Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS), Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), Trade Union Coordination Centre (TUCC), Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU), Labour Progressive Federation (LPF), and United Trade Union Congress (UTUC) – have condemned the “blatantly unilateral” implementation of “anti-worker, pro-employer” labour codes, calling it the Union government’s “deceptive fraud” against the working class people.
The protesting unions have flagged changes related to hire and fire, retrenchment, fixed-term employment, and curtailment of the right to strike.
The 10 CTUs have also called for a nationwide protest against the codes on November 26.
However, the RSS-affiliated Bharatiya Majdoor Sangh (BMS) welcomed the implementation of the codes, calling it a “significant milestone” in the country’s journey towards a fair, inclusive, and empowered labour ecosystem.
The history of trade unions in the country could be traced to the late 19th century. In the wake of enactment of the Indian Factories Act, 1881, several strikes were held in the industrial towns as this law made workers realise the power of united action even though there was no organised union. In 1890, the mill workers in Bombay organised themselves under the banner of the Bombay Mill-hands’ Association.
A formal union was first formed in India in 1920, which was named the All India Trade Union Congress. In 1926, the Trade Union Act was also enacted aimed at regulating and monitoring trade unions.
These developments led to rapid growth of trade unions, several of which also took part in the national freedom movement against the British rule.
After India’s Independence in 1947, the influence of trade unions grew rapidly as the country opted for a socialist economic model driven largely by the public sector units.
Experts say that it was between 1950s and 1970s that trade unions had great influence, calling strikes and raising the demands of workers they represented. Big unions had influence in large industries or the formal sector, including in the public sector.
It was in 1974 that one of the biggest industrial actions in the world – the railway strike – took place. The 20-day-long 1974 railway strike saw participation of more than 15 lakh workers, with their demands including an eight-hour working day for locomotive staff and a raise in pay scale. The then Indira Gandhi government clamped down on it.
The collapse of the months-long Bombay Textile Strike in 1982 was also seen as a tipping point in the decline of Indian trade union movement.
This decline began since the 1980s due to various reasons including changing ways of business, informalisation of labour market, economic reforms and various global factors.
Once the Centre initiated economic liberalisation in 1991, the unions’ representation declined due to the growth of the informal sector.
Economic reforms encouraged privatisation, resulting in diminished rights of workers and the informalisation of labour through contractual and casual work, which further weakened unions that mainly represented formal workers.
Several experts point to the gaps between what the new labour laws intend to do and their application on the ground. Some of them also believe that trade unions may also push back by demanding the implementation of the codes in letter and spirit.
Prof Prabhu Mohapatra, a labour historian and former professor of Delhi University, said, “It is still possible to push back. On the issue of labour laws, what is written in the codes and what is practiced on the ground, there has always been a gap. Whether the government will be able to implement on ground what is imagined in the codes will be difficult. In each of the promises – on social security, ease of doing business, and decreasing industrial conflict – there will be gaps,” said Mohapatra.
“The trade unions have to reinvent themselves. They have been doing it. For the sake of workers’ rights, I expect the unions to resist the code on the ground as well as continuing to mount pressure at the governmental level both at the state and the central levels,” he added.
