Decoding the Labour Codes: A Handbook for Workers
Book Review
Though working people constitute a vast majority of the country, the issues of the working class and labour legislation is often neglected in the public imagination. The slow and steady erosion of strong labour law protections through anti-worker Courts and the breakdown of several strong trade unions and movements have gone hand-in-hand with increasing precarity and uncertainty in the lives of workers. Mainstream media no longer sees labour issues as worthy of regular coverage. Against this backdrop, the Union government has passed four new Labour Codes, which change the objective of labour laws from workers welfare to employers’ welfare and ease of doing business. Though all Central trade Unions have vehemently opposed the enactment of these Codes, they could be implemented any day, with an executive notification.
It is in this context that the Centre for Workers’ Management has recently released a Handbook on the labour Codes. The publication gives a background on the origin of the Codes, goes in-depth into each of the four Codes by discussing the changes in law in question-and-answer format. There is no doubt that mainstreaming the discussion around the Codes is more relevant now than ever. The Handbook takes a clear stance by finding the labour Codes to be totally against the interest of the working class and by finding that key labour law protections have been deliberately obliterated to benefit the interests of the corporates.
A foreword by Senior Advocate Indira Jaising discusses the development of trade union movement and the current labour laws. She notes how in the context of strikes of workers of textile industry, the Trade Unions Act, 1926 was enacted giving immunity to workers from prosecution for resorting to a strike, while remanding registration of workers. She outlines the enactment of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 to give an alternative recourse of courts to workers to avoid strikes. Initially, progressive interpretation of law gave power to the courts over what was specifically provided in law, such as the power to grant reinstatement. However, with liberalisation and privatisation, the Courts started restrictively interpreting various labour laws. By 2014, the objective of the law had changed from fair work conditions to ‘ease of doing business, culminating in the labour Codes. Ultimately, she notes that litigation under labour laws themselves is a function of power, which results in under-litigation of some laws such as the Equal Remuneration Act, 1976.
Goutam Mody’s preface discusses how strong unionisation through the twentieth century led to progressive interpretation of labour law by the courts, leading to labour laws being read closely in conjunction with case laws. However, he also traces changing power equations since the 1990s and impunity to employers caused by the executive and judiciary. These trends ultimately resulted in the Labour Codes, which he terms ‘a codification of these employment practices that are violative of basic labour rights.’ He points out to various overarching principles of labour law that the Labour Codes will undermine. Trade Unions are placed on an unequal footing with employers and companies, since the Codes allow for cancellation of Trade Union registration for any violation though there is no similar provision for cancellation of registration of companies. In fact, penal provisions for violations by employers in existing laws have been removed in the Codes. Moreover, the Codes sanctify the gap between formal and informal workers by statutorily placing informal workers beyond the scope of rights-based law, and making them entitled to only what the government may choose to grant through non-justiciable schemes. The Codes also attack the federal character of labour law, which is a concurrent subject, but open up a race to the bottom. Through excessive delegated legislation, the rights of workers are moved from statutory protection to the whims of the executive. He argues that the Codes exclude agricultural workers, domestic workers, as well as the Shops and Commercial establishment Act, the POSH Act, and the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act 1986. He points out that the Codes are violative of international labour standards and eliminate punitive measures against the management.
The Handbook traces the origin of the Labour Codes to the Second National Commission on Labour, constituted by the NDA government in 1999 to suggest rationalisation of labour laws in the organised sector and to suggest umbrella legislation for ensuring minimum protections to the unorganised sector. Its report in 2002 was opposed by all the Central Trade Unions, which called the proposed reforms: Anti People, Anti- Labour and Anti-National. Finally, with the UPA coming into power in 2004, the reforms were placed on hold. From 2014, the BJP government in Rajasthan started implementing a number of changes in labour laws that now form part of the proposed labour Codes. The BJP government’s manifesto promised to undertake labour reforms to increase ease of doing business. The Handbook points out that key workers‘ protections have been deleted in the so-called Codification process. The Codes were also passed in Parliament without significant discussion, with all except the Wage Code being introduced while the opposition was on boycott.
The Handbook points out how the components of minimum wage have been severely diluted, especially by leaving the fixation process to Rules. The Rules make the rent component only 10% of food and shelter, which is absurd. Moreover, the requirement for provision of a balanced diet as per previous standards has been removed. Similarly, the Codes grant legislative sanctity to ‘floor wage’, which is illegal, and contrary to judgments that hold that non-payment of minimum wages amount to bonded labour.
The Handbook notes how penalties for breach have been substantially diluted. It points to a diluted standard of maintenance of crèche whereby the government is now taking on responsibilities of private employers. The Codes also effectively entrench contract work by enabling contract work in a number of core areas and defining core work in a highly restrictive way to absolve principal employer of any liability.
The Codes also remove core safety standards of the Factories Act and Building and other Construction Workers Act, and leave the safety standards to the discretion of the government. The book points out how the social security provisions are actually diluted and widen the gap between the formal and informal sector. Interestingly, by applying inflation rates, the Handbook points out that though the government has boasted of increasing fine rates, their real value has decreased substantially.
The Codes provide for deemed certification of the Standing Orders, and do not provide for adequate consultation with unions as previously required. It no longer mandates display of Standing Orders on a display board. Moreover, increasing threshold limits put a large number of workers in smaller establishments out of the purview of labour law protections.
Overall, the Handbook discusses the proposed anti-worker Codes in great detail and simple language. It will be a helpful tool for developing public pressure against the Codes.