Sukhmani Kooner, Pune
The four labour codes passed in 2019 and 2020 are being implemented as the Union Labour Minister, Mr Mansukh Mandaviya and the Union Labour Secretary Sumita Dawra have started their attempts to get the Trade Unions on board with the reforms. They met the representatives of the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) and Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA). These reforms, termed as controversial legislation by many, faced opposition from the Trade Unions and the people for how they were passed when the opposition was not present in both houses due to them boycotting the parliament.
The second National Labour Commission was set up in 1999 by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, which had submitted a report on the need for labour laws to be streamlined into 3-4 codes. In 2019, the bills went to Parliament’s Committee on Labour which has 31 members headed by BJD MP Bhartruhari Mahtab. This committee had suggested 100 changes in the existing labour laws as drafted by the government, out of which 74 were implemented.
These codes are an attempt to simplify the pre-existing labour laws for the ease of functionality of the system. The current editor-in-chief of ThePrint explained, “If there was a labour law dispute, according to the pre-existing laws, it had to pass from the board of conciliation to courts of enquiry to labour courts to the tribunals and national tribunals. However, with the new codes, there will be only two authorities- the conciliation officer and the tribunal.” This eases out the process and protects both, the employer and the employee, from exploitation. This in-turn will simplify the process for courts, judges, lawyers, employers and most of all, the employees.
These codes faced delays as Labour is a concurrent subject and the union designs laws and states can pass them. The states which have not yet framed their laws are being helped by the centre. The four codes are elaborate and include 411 clauses which have 480 sections over 286 pages.
The codes are an amalgamation of the 29 most important labour laws. The code on wages includes 4 laws. The occupational safety, health and working conditions code includes 13 laws which state that all welfare and safety measures, will apply to all workers equally. The Labour Code on Social Security contains 9 laws. Code on industrial relations which includes union activity, workers’ rights to go on strike, etc contains 3 laws.
According to an analysis by Citigroup, implementing these codes would help the ease of doing business dynamics in India. Co-relating this with the NSSO data on the unorganised sector in India, it highlights that only 17% of 47.4 crore workers are employed in the organised sector. The labour codes emphasize that no one should be left out of the social security net. Migrant workers who are directly employed and self-employed, who earn less than 18k per month will also benefit from the new laws. These laws will be extended to casual workers, gig workers as well as platform workers. These will aid the ease of doing business scenario as now, if the company has more than 300 employees, only then it will be required to issue a license that it is shutting down and companies which have more than 300 employees, only they will have to issue standing orders. These two aspects will give employers more freedom and hence increase employment.
In the changing landscape, women workers will have more freedom to choose their line of work as now, no work will be termed hazardous for them, provided they give consent.
In a meeting on Wednesday, the national secretary of SEWA, Manali Shah, highlighted the issue of lack of security provisions for migrant workers. Labour activists have been raising concerns about the exploitation of workers especially those on fixed-term contracts. There are concerns about labour rights and their protection.