Trade Unions, Opposition Leaders Criticise Modi Govt Move to Notify Labour Codes Rules
New Delhi: Trade unions have criticised the Union government's decision to notify the final rules pertaining to the four Labour Codes on May 8, thereby completing the process of replacing 29 existing labour laws with these codes. The Codes span a range of crucial labour rights issues including wages, social security, working hours, retirement benefits and trade union rights.
The notification of these controversial Codes came just days after the assembly elections to four states and one union territory were concluded.
The draft rules had been published at the end of December last year, and public comments invited for 45 days. There has been one important change between the draft rules published in December and now – the Union government has dropped the criteria for calculating minimum wage in the final Code on Wages (Central) Rules, 2025. According to The Indian Express, the Union government has said that the criteria will be “separately specified by the central government by special or general order”. This could potentially lead to disparate minimum wages across states for the same work and same skill level of worker.
Trade unions have been raising their voices against the Labour Codes for months now, saying that the provisions make it far harder for workers to organise, encourage further contractualisaton and benefit the employer over the employee. After the final rules were published, The Hindu reported, ten central trade unions held protests across the country, burning copies of it.
"Ignoring the countrywide opposition of working class to the 4 Codes, the Central Govt has enforced the Rules. This will bring fixed term employment to finish all hope of permanency, enforce anti worker IR [Industrial Relations] Code which robs right to struggle, finish formal authority of the govt labour machinery to force employers to implement workers rights and thus too dilute the workplace security. It will give employers full freedom to "Hire and Fire", intensify exploitation of workers and ensure increasing profits for foreign and Indian corporate," the Indian Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU) has said in a statement.
IFTU has also specifically pointed to the removal of the minimum wage criteria from the final rules, saying this exposes the Union government's "anti-worker intentions".
Opposition parties too have criticised the Union government's decision operationalise the Labour Codes. In a statement, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge criticised the timing, saying that the Narendra Modi government “in its typical cowardly fashion” had waited for the assembly elections to conclude before the move. “For crores of India’s workers, these codes promise a future of hire-and-fire policies, contract employment, and limited space for unionisation,” he said.
“These codes, which benefit only the Prime Minister’s industrialist friends, are the greatest setback for workers’ rights since Independence,” Kharge continued. He also listed a few steps the Congress has in mind for workers' rights and safety: restoring MGNREGA and extending it to urban areas; a national minimum wage of Rs 400 per day; universal health coverage; comprehensive social security for all unorganised sector workers; and a commitment to stop contractualisation in core government functions.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) also released a statement on the notification, calling the timing "deceptive". “Within just four days after the announcement of results, they have now operationalised the Labour Codes. This exposes the deceptive modus operandi of the BJP-led Union government,” the CPI(M) said.
Earlier, trade unions had called a general strike in February 2026, demanding the withdrawal of the Labour Codes.
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