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NEW DELHI: relaxation of the rigid and the archaic Labor laws by Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh (reported by TOI in its Friday edition), and by Gujarat late Friday afternoon, it is expected to help restart economic activity, attract investment, and eventually create more jobs by introducing labor market flexibility. However, unions attacked the relaxations as retrograde and warned of the erosion of workers’ rights.
The decision of the two governments to allow employers to increase working hours by four hours and up to 72 hours a week in overtime for willing workers, to allow third-party inspections for new units, and to allow employers to change their work hours. It is expected to remove the rigidities that have hurt businesses and deterred new investment.
The changes include exemptions from the record-keeping requirement and the suspension of the requirement to take precautions that unions consider essential to job security, but have been criticized by others as an excuse for harassment by factory inspectors.
“Today, the most urgent requirement is to create new jobs. This means giving flexibility in hiring workers while guaranteeing minimum wages and safety for workers, “former union labor secretary Shankar Agarwal told TOI. Without jobs, there is no point in talking about labor rights, he added. He said that states are empowered to take action under the National Disaster Management Act and are within your rights to change the rules.
There is an expectation that other states will do the same, Haryana has already made some moves, to remove obstacles that hinder efforts to attract foreign capital, especially if investors move away from China due to the country’s association with the outbreak of the pandemic.
“Over the next two quarters, each state must replicate what UP and MP have done. Times of emergency require emergency measures, and normally we believe we need to appoint a labor commission to analyze the 27,000 compliance in almost 440 central and state Acts and around 1,400 presentations.
“There should be a single labor code for rapid economic recovery”
There should be a labor code to pave the way for rapid economic recovery and job creation, ”said Rituporna Chakraborty, executive vice president and co-founder of staff firm Teamlease.
Rejecting the argument that the provisions will dilute labor rights, Chakraborty said the formal sector has made significant progress in terms of compliance, and therefore exploitation is not the biggest challenge in the formal sector. “Most of the exploitation is related to the informal sector, where in any case labor laws have not been applied in the past and will not be applied in the future,” he said.
Archaic and cumbersome labor laws have been cited as an obstacle to accelerating reforms, and employers have often demanded flexibility in hiring and firing decisions. The Center has taken steps to reform some laws and has released codes. There is concern that inflexible labor laws may be an impediment if the “restitution” of global capital occurs as a result of the coronavirus. India had not previously taken advantage of rising wages in China as investors opted for destinations defined by flexible labor laws.
Unions said they had been informed that more state governments like Gujarat, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Telangana are planning similar movements. “We are writing to the Center and the state government to explain how the suspension of labor laws will help restart economic activity. Give us the justification, “said Virjesh Upadhyay, secretary general of the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh who is linked to BJP, the party who is in office at UP, MP and Haryana.
The leaders of seven political parties in a letter to the President expressed concern for the safety, well-being, livelihood and future of millions of workers. “Under the guise of fighting the Covid-19 pandemic, drastic changes are being made to existing labor laws in the country that further jeopardize the lives and well-being of workers. The country is already witnessing the dimensions most inhumane tragic of the difficult situation of migrant works since the national closure was imposed. Far from protecting the fundamental right to life and dignity, the conditions of today are barbaric, “said the letter signed by CPM SItaram Yechury and D Raja de CPI among others.
On video: Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat ease labor laws
The decision of the two governments to allow employers to increase working hours by four hours and up to 72 hours a week in overtime for willing workers, to allow third-party inspections for new units, and to allow employers to change their work hours. It is expected to remove the rigidities that have hurt businesses and deterred new investment.
The changes include exemptions from the record-keeping requirement and the suspension of the requirement to take precautions that unions consider essential to job security, but have been criticized by others as an excuse for harassment by factory inspectors.
“Today, the most urgent requirement is to create new jobs. This means giving flexibility in hiring workers while guaranteeing minimum wages and safety for workers, “former union labor secretary Shankar Agarwal told TOI. Without jobs, there is no point in talking about labor rights, he added. He said that states are empowered to take action under the National Disaster Management Act and are within your rights to change the rules.
There is an expectation that other states will do the same, Haryana has already made some moves, to remove obstacles that hinder efforts to attract foreign capital, especially if investors move away from China due to the country’s association with the outbreak of the pandemic.
“Over the next two quarters, each state must replicate what UP and MP have done. Times of emergency require emergency measures, and normally we believe we need to appoint a labor commission to analyze the 27,000 compliance in almost 440 central and state Acts and around 1,400 presentations.
“There should be a single labor code for rapid economic recovery”
There should be a labor code to pave the way for rapid economic recovery and job creation, ”said Rituporna Chakraborty, executive vice president and co-founder of staff firm Teamlease.
Rejecting the argument that the provisions will dilute labor rights, Chakraborty said the formal sector has made significant progress in terms of compliance, and therefore exploitation is not the biggest challenge in the formal sector. “Most of the exploitation is related to the informal sector, where in any case labor laws have not been applied in the past and will not be applied in the future,” he said.
Archaic and cumbersome labor laws have been cited as an obstacle to accelerating reforms, and employers have often demanded flexibility in hiring and firing decisions. The Center has taken steps to reform some laws and has released codes. There is concern that inflexible labor laws may be an impediment if the “restitution” of global capital occurs as a result of the coronavirus. India had not previously taken advantage of rising wages in China as investors opted for destinations defined by flexible labor laws.
Unions said they had been informed that more state governments like Gujarat, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Telangana are planning similar movements. “We are writing to the Center and the state government to explain how the suspension of labor laws will help restart economic activity. Give us the justification, “said Virjesh Upadhyay, secretary general of the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh who is linked to BJP, the party who is in office at UP, MP and Haryana.
The leaders of seven political parties in a letter to the President expressed concern for the safety, well-being, livelihood and future of millions of workers. “Under the guise of fighting the Covid-19 pandemic, drastic changes are being made to existing labor laws in the country that further jeopardize the lives and well-being of workers. The country is already witnessing the dimensions most inhumane tragic of the difficult situation of migrant works since the national closure was imposed. Far from protecting the fundamental right to life and dignity, the conditions of today are barbaric, “said the letter signed by CPM SItaram Yechury and D Raja de CPI among others.
On video: Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat ease labor laws
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