Withdrawing 29 central legislations and replacing them with four Labour Codes (the Code of Wages, the Industrial Relations Code, the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code and the Code on Social Security), the Union Government’s Ministry of Labour & Employment has removed hard won labour rights legislations in one fell swoop. These 2019 Codes were passed without tripartite consultation between workers, employers and representatives at the Indian Labour Conference (ILC). Unsurprisingly, this order saw representatives of big business chime in with glee with the Director General of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) calling it “a historic milestone for India’s labour landscape.”, while the organised sector unions and workers’ organisations have been raising objections. The unorganised sector that constitutes almost 90% of the workforce, have a significant stake in these developments. The Labour Codes claim to herald transformational changes by ‘reducing compliance burden’ aligning with ‘global standards’. The November 21st notification bringing the four Labour Codes leaves no doubt regarding whose interest the current regime serves.
A quick look at the legislation will reveal that all ‘rationalising’ and ‘simplifying’ is for the sake of big business. An example of this appears in the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (OSHWC) Code, which effectively repeals the Building and Other Construction Workers (BOCW) Act of 1996 that laid out roughly 180 rules to ensure worker safety at construction sites. The OSHWC will now depend on a web-based process to ostensibly ensure safety of the workplace and minimum wage implementation. In the name of ‘flexibility’, working hours can be stretched beyond the hard won limit of 8 hours a day via overtime and flexible rosters. These provide the employers with flexible production schedules while the workers, particularly those on contract, are compelled to accept this flexibility in order to retain their jobs.
The union government claims that the four Labour Codes align with global standards by allowing women to work the night shift. Nowhere does it recognise that women, already severely underpaid, would be compelled to take these night shifts at the risk of their safety and job loss. This is coercion cloaked in the liberal façade of gender equality. While the Labour Codes speak of including gig and platform workers within the ambit of workers, it does not speak of providing them job security. The Social Security Code speaks of creating one welfare board for all unorganised workers without any distinction between beedi, salt, mining, construction and other sectors. This code also expands the threshold for workplaces that qualify for safety committees, in some instances from 100 to in some instances from 100 to 300 employees, reducing regulatory compliance for a wide net of employers/companies.
The Codes of Wages brings with it a replacement for the regulatory powers of labour inspectors. The new Inspector-cum-Facilitator System moves away from enforcement of worker rights to serving the employer by blatantly stating that it intends to move away from punitive enforcement of workers’ rights. With labour inspectors turning into advisors, it will now provide guidance, presumably for the employers, and focus on boosting productivity. Further, this Code creates ambiguities by failing to define and differentiate between ‘worker’ and ‘employee’ and undermining existing protections. Instead of setting a statutory minimum wage, the new ‘floor wage’ pushes the minimum wage downward. In fact, instead of mandating worker rights like Dearness Allowance (DA), the Codes ‘endeavour’ to revise DA twice yearly essentially rolling back worker rights. And worst of all, the Industrial Relations (IR) Code creates Fixed-Term Employees (FTE). Every FTE worker will remain in constant fear of non-renewal of contract. Here, no explanation need be given for non-renewal and therefore no scope for appealing dismissal. The most egregious method of undermining worker rights is by curtailing the right to strike. The IR Code requires a 14-day notice period for all establishments irrespective of type or size, prohibiting strikes during conciliation proceedings and expanding the definition of strike to include mass casual leave. Furthermore, as per the Codes, a trade union with at least 51% of workers as members will be the sole negotiating union. Even institutions like Tribunals are weakened as governments can defer, reject or modify their awards.
In the name of simplifying, streamlining, rationalising, universalising and consolidating, the Labour Codes are nothing but a generous gift to the employers/companies. When unemployment is high, jobs are scarce and, for many, livelihood is a matter of life or death, the current regime invigorates and galvanises its support through systematic polarisation on caste and communal lines. And it does so while serving the ruling class through the use and abuse of the institutions of governance. This salvo of anti-worker legislation should force us to evaluate the ways to organise and unite. Every single day the line between the working class and the agents of imperialism are growing sharper. The question is, are the barricades ready?
