New Delhi: Central trade unions on Monday requested that the four Labour Codes introduced in 2019 be scrapped along with the new pension scheme.
The joint platform of 10 trade unions, excluding the RSS-affiliated Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, made their requests during a pre-budget meeting with Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
They asked that the 29 labour laws, which the four labour codes had replaced, be restored and that the current pension scheme be reverted to the old pension scheme.
The unions reiterated their request for a minimum wage of not less than Rs 26,000 per month and urged the government to reconvene the tripartite Indian Labour Conference that hasn’t had a meeting since 2015, the Economic Times reported.
‘Don’t see trade unions as villains’
According to a recent labour ministry notification, the rates of penalty levied against defaulting employers under the Employee’s Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) have been reduced. “This has been done keeping the Central Board of Trustees of EPFO in the dark and without any consultation with the unions whatsoever,” the unions said.
“Not only that our suggestions and demands are ignored, your governments have been implementing policies diametrically opposite to those bypassing all tripartite and bipartite democratic mechanisms and institutions,” they added.
The unions suggested a halt on the privatisation of public sector undertakings (PSUs) and that the budget focuses on rural development, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), infrastructure, exports, and skill development, Business Standard reported.
“We asked the finance minister to not see trade unions as villains. Instead, workers should be lauded as heroes and engines of growth,” said Vidya Sagar Giri, vice president of the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), the labour union affiliated to the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
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The trade unions recommended that the government boost resource mobilisation by raising corporate and wealth taxes, increasing the income tax rebate ceiling for salaried employees, establishing a social security fund, and filling all existing vacancies in central government departments and public sector undertakings with permanent positions to eliminate contract jobs.
“Privatisation of PSUs and its latest format, the National Monetisation pipeline, should be stopped forthwith,” the unions said.
The unions also called for regularisation of scheme workers and statutory minimum support price for all farm products with guaranteed procurement, the Economic Times reported.
The 10 central trade unions included the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), the Trade Union Coordination Centre (TUCC), the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), the Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS), the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), the Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), the All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU) and the Labour Progressive Federation (LPF) along with other sectoral federations and associations.
Background
In 2019, the Union government had introduced four bills on labour codes to consolidate 29 central laws. These were:
- Code on Wages
- Industrial Relations Code
- Social Security Code
- Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code
While the Wages Code was passed in 2019, the other three bills were referred to a Standing Committee on Labour. As per the recommendations of the committee, the government replaced these Bills with new ones in September 2020. The Bills were passed that month with a voice vote in the absence of opposition MPs who were away protesting the farm Bills.
Workers rights groups had claimed that these Bills are anti-worker as they paved the way for a “hire and fire” policy and restrict the right to strike. Analysts had also pointed out that the Bills were significantly different from the ones introduced in 2019, and should be referred to a standing committee again.
