Trade Unions, RS MP slam dilution of labour laws by UP, MP, Gujarat

NEW DELHI: Central Trade Unions including the RSS-backed Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) have said the decision by state governments of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh to dilute or dispense with labour laws to aid industries will have disastrous implications for India’s working class population.
On the one hand, while BMS said that MP and UP orders to dilute labour laws violated the International Labour Organisation rules and said the organisation will approach the states seeking clarification and the rationale behind the move, AITUC also condemned UP’s “draconian” ordinance titled “Uttar Pradesh Temporary Exemption for certain labour laws Ordinance, 2020”, which AITUC said being done in the name of facilitating economic activities.
“With one stroke 38 laws are made defunct for 1000 days (almost three years) and the remaining are only section 5 of Payment of Wages Act 1934, Construction Workers Act 1996, Compensation Act 1923 and Bonded Labour Act 1976 which remain functional. Those laws made defunct include Industrial Dispute Act, Act on Occupational Safety and Health, Contract labour act, Migrant Labour Act, Equal Remuneration Act etc,” AITUC general secretary Amarjeet Kaur said.
The MP government has ordered similar drastic changes in the Factories Act, Contract Act and Industrial Dispute Act allowing employers to, at will, hire or fire labourers, suspend dispute raising, and for contractors to supply up to 49 persons as labourers without needing to obtain a license. The dilutions also say no inspections will be allowed without prior permissions. “All this means that the workers are to be used as bonded labour without any rights for sheer exploitation in the interest of capital without any guarantee of wages, safety and healthcare, social security,” AITUC added in a statement.
On Friday, Rajya Sabha MP Elamaram Kareem, who is a CITU leader and a member of the parliamentary standing committee on labour, also wrote to PM Narendra Modi, asking him to intervene and prevent other state governments to follow in the footsteps on UP and MP. Kareem said the dilution of labour laws in the name of kick starting businesses was both anti-labour and anti-human.
Punjab and Tripura are among the states that have made similar proposals to dilute labour laws. Gujarat, on the other hand, has decided to increase shift timing from the existing 8 hours 12 hours without increasing wages commensurate with the additional working hours. UP and MP government have also approved this provision in line with demands of employers.