-The Hindu The new labour laws are a brutal attack on workers’ ability to safeguard their rights Labour law ‘reform’ has been on the table since 1991 as every government’s favourite solution for economic growth. Yet, there was no consensus between governments, political parties, workers and their trade unions, and employers, on what this meant. Unlike other political formations, the BJP has been in unqualified agreement with employers that the existing labour...

-CivilSocietyOnline.com When millions of workers literally burst on to the scene during the sudden lockdown in India, the entire country was shocked by how vulnerable they seemed. They didn’t have housing, savings, healthcare and rights as employees. In their large numbers, they accounted for the majority of the workforce and yet there was no one to speak for them. The lockdown was expected to be a watershed moment because of this unsettling...

-Newsclick.in Fearing that recent changes in labour laws will lead to further contractualisation of labour, several contract workers have joined the unionised of an auto component firm. New Delhi: Better late than never, as the adage goes. In a significant development, a section of contract workers in a major auto component manufacturing company in Manesar has turned to unionisation by enrolling themselves in the employees’ body representing permanent employees. The staff of the...

-The Indian Express In real terms, the essential thrust of the new labour Codes is the generalisation of a paradigm of labour–capital relations, which is based on reduced state intervention or deregulation, and its corollary, bipartite industrial relations. With Parliament passing the three new labour Codes that replace 25 existing labour laws, the present conjuncture officially marks the end of labour law as we have seen it for most part of the...

-The Hindu The government’s tendency to be opaque and blame states is not new Last month, the Code on Social Security; the Code on Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions; and the Code on Industrial Relations were passed in Parliament with little debate. In August 2019, the Code on Wages was passed. The four Codes together subsume more than 40 labour laws. The mission statement from the Ministry of Labour and Employment reads:...