Opposition parties, which fiercely protested the passage of two land reform bills, are now preparing to oppose three upcoming labor reform laws.
One of them, a provision in the Industrial Relations Code allows companies with up to 300 workers to fire people without approval from the appropriate state government, a facility only available to companies employing up to 100 people under current law.
Union Labor Minister Santosh Gangwar introduced three labor codes – on social security, labor relations, and occupational safety and health – in Lok Sabha on Saturday. The fourth Code, on wages, has already been approved by Parliament.
The labor reform bills will replace a myriad of archaic labor laws in code, which have long been pending. The government claims to have incorporated 174 of the 233 recommendations of the permanent working committee for the three codes. The Opposition had stated that the new bills, which replaced the original versions, should be reviewed again by panels.
The Draft Law of the Code of Industrial Relations 2019, the Code of Safety, Health and Labor Conditions, 2020 and the Code of Social Security, 2020 will be debated in the coming days, setting the stage for a new confrontation between the Opposition and the government.
The Labor Relations Bill redefines the scope of unions. The Social Security Code aims to create a social safety net for all workers, including migrants, and the Occupational Safety and Health Code sets standards for health safety regulations for companies.
Congressional leaders like Shashi Tharoor and Manish Tewari and left-wing leaders already oppose labor reforms.
While Tewari wants the new codes to be put into the public domain for a month as they have seen substantial changes, Tharoor has demanded that the government fully accept the recommendations of the standing committee. “The alternative would be to face a constitutional challenge in court … Do you want judicial scrutiny again?” Tharoor questioned the Minister of Labor.
“The government has conducted nine tripartite consultations and ten inter-ministerial consultations during the code-writing stage,” Santosh Gangwar told the Lok Sabha when introducing the bill.
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