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New Delhi: The Uttar Pradesh government passed an ordinance exempting companies from the scope of almost all labor laws for the next three years in a bid to provide a stimulus to investments affected by the new coronavirus in the state.
The ordinance will become law only after receiving the consent of the President.
“Horticultural and economic activities in the states have been severely affected and decreased due to the COVID-19 outbreak. This is because companies and economic activities have more or less stopped due to the national closure, ”said a press release issued by the state government. The decision was made at a state cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Adityanath on Wednesday.
The statement says the government has cleared the “Uttar Pradesh Temporary Waiver of the Certain Labor Laws Ordinance, 2020” to exempt all establishments, factories and businesses from the scope of all but four labor laws and one provision of another law, for a period of three years.
Only the Construction Workers and Other Construction Workers Act of 1996; Workers’ Compensation Act, 1923; Bonded Labor System (Abolition) Act, 1976; and Section 5 of the Wage Payment Act, 1936 (the right to receive wages on time), will apply in the state, according to the statement. He also said that the provisions related to children and women in labor laws would continue.
Other labor laws will be extinguished. They include laws related to the settlement of labor disputes, occupational safety, health and working conditions of workers, and those related to unions, contract workers and migrant workers.
This will apply to both existing companies and new factories being established in the state.
“The idea is that in the current circumstances where we need to provide employment for migrant workers back to the state and protect existing employment, some flexibility should be given to business and industry,” said the chief secretary of Uttar Pradesh, RK Tiwari said Business standard.
He added that some of the labor laws have remained intact, especially those related to women and children, which will act in the well-being of workers and “will continue to be protected.”
Tiwari added that the ordinance will be sent for approval by the central government. Since work is a concurrent issue under the Indian Constitution, states can frame their own laws, but they need approval from the central government.
“It is absolutely shocking. This move by the Uttar Pradesh government turns the clock back for more than 100 years. It will lead to conditions of slavery for workers and is unacceptable, in violation of all human and fundamental rights. This measure should be legally challenged, ”said labor law advocate Ramapriya Gopalakrishnan.
Madhya Pradesh Prime Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan held a press conference on Thursday to announce how the state government will exempt all new manufacturing units from all, but some provisions, in the Factory Act of 1948 for the next 1000 days (or more than two and a … half a year). Changes in MP labor law, which needs central government sanction, will allow more factories to operate without following health and safety regulations and will give a new hand to startups to “keep workers on duty at their convenience “
“The labor law reforms reported by the UP government to exempt industries from all but three labor laws, all of which are inadequately implemented by any government, are beyond the reach of the imagination and will make even The most flexible advocates of job flexibility are embarrassed and even industries would not have imagined getting this “vacation from the labor laws,” “XLRI Jamshedpur professor and labor economist KR Shyam Sundar said.
He said the measure may backfire as “good capital pursues high labor standards.” “The COVID-19 times are witnessing the fall of labor standards like a pack of cards. The argument of occupying the market space vacated by China is taken too seriously by this state, “he added.
State governments have witnessed a severe shortage of revenue after the national shutdown because businesses are closed. Many migrant workers in states like Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh have returned from places like Kerala, Delhi, Gujarat and Maharashtra.
States have begun to relax labor laws to attract investment.
By agreement with Business Standard
Note: This story has been edited to add the 1976 Bonded Labor System (Abolition) Act to the list of current labor laws that will be exempt from the proposed three-year suspension.
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