THERE WAS A SPECULATION IN THE AIR that four new labour codes might get implemented April 2025 onwards. However, it did not happen. There is no official communication from the Ministry of Labour & Employment (‘MoLE’) in this regard. However, in its year-end review released on December 28, 2024, MoLE mentioned that thirty six States/Union territories are expected to complete drafting and notify the Rules that are required for rolling out of the labour codes by March 31. Over the last few months, there were few hints from the official quarters that the government will soon notify the implementation date. The government embarked on the formulation of labour codes during the year 2017-18. Following that, four new labour codes were enacted namely, Code on Wages 2019, Social Security Code 2020, Industrial Relations Code, 2020 and Occupational Safety Health Working Conditions (‘OSHWC’) Code, 2020. By September 2020, all the four new codes were enacted and received presidential assent. Subsequently, by March 2021, MoLE came up with draft Rules on all the four labour codes. However, for some inexplicable reasons, implementation of these four new codes did not start till date. Essentially, these four new labour codes merged twenty nine existing labour laws into four broad categories namely wage, social security, industrial relation and OSHWC. Once these codes are implemented, the existing twenty nine laws will cease to exist. It has been almost four and half years since these codes became laws. Apart from a few exceptions like West Bengal, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Sikkim and UTs like Andaman & Nicobar Islands, all others have drafted and pre-published the Rules. Technically, nothing prevents MoLE from implementing the four new labour codes as such. .However, for some inexplicable reasons, implementation of these four new codes did not start till date. .The question is why these codes are still not implemented. There are no clear-cut answers to that. Most of the Central Trade Unions (‘CTUs’) are opposing the four new labour codes. Bhartiya Majdoor Sangh (‘BMS’), which is closely associated with the ruling dispensation at the Centre, is also sceptical about certain provisions of these new codes. Joint Platform of CTUs (‘JPCTU’), established in 2009, comprising ten CTUs (excluding BMS) is organizing demonstrations, protest meets and strikes at regular intervals. On the other hand, the Confederation of Central Trade Unions (‘CONCENT’), comprising the BMS and three other unions, is opposing certain parts of these labour codes but not entirely. In the latest such protest meet, JPCTU organised a national convention at Delhi on March 18 and demanded scrapping of new labour codes terming those anti-labour. It also called for an All India General Strike on May 2. In fact, JPCTU has been organising such protests ever since the labour codes came into being. However, these are not making much difference in substance the protests against the farm laws had. JPCTU could not make the government restart social dialogue or tripartite consultation in this regard. .Practically, what can trade unions do regarding the Labour Codes?.Formulation of the four new labour codes is part of the second generation reform following the liberalisation of the economy in 1991 and has been pending for a long time before it got initiated around 2017. The basic driving force behind the formulation of the labour codes is the principle of ‘ease of doing business’. It essentially facilitates the business environment from the perspective of investors and employers. It eases the compliance burden substantially and is inherently based on simplified self-declaration by the employer and automatic granting of administrative approvals and licenses. It creates considerable restrictions on the inspection mechanism and gives considerable flexibility in terms of labour deployment. A closer examination of the four new labour codes would reveal that it merges together labour laws on similar subjects without any substantial changes. It is inherently a merging exercise with a bit of simplification and rationalisation. Most of the labour laws were enacted at the time of our independence. Thus those have become old and certain provisions are now obsolete. Also, there are too many labour laws on similar subjects and it becomes confusing for both employers and workers. Also, there have been significant changes in the world of work and labour laws need to keep pace with the times. Thus, there was no second opinion that we needed labour law reforms. The question was which directions such reforms should take. The way the labour codes have been formulated make it amply clear that it is an employer driven reform carried out by the State. Also, it has formalised those reforms which were already carried out in the last two decades. The Industrial Relations Code, 2020 enhanced labour market flexibility by increasing the approval threshold from hundred to three hundred workers in case of lay-off, retrenchment and closure. Similar increase of threshold from hundred to three hundred also happened in the case of requirement of having a certified standing order. Considerable restrictions have been put on Trade Union activities. Carrying out strikes would become legally infeasible once the code is implemented. .Apart from the minimum wages section of the Code on Wages 2019, other labour codes are not relevant for the majority of the labour force in India..These kinds of changes have already been effectuated through state level amendments in the last two decades. In that sense, the labour codes are formalising something that already exists. They are not a radical departure from the present reality. The OSHWC Code 2020 further deregulates contract labour. The Indian labour market experienced steady contractualisation over the years and the labour codes further reinforce the phenomenon. Also, the labour codes retain the employee threshold on the applicability of social security and occupation-based welfare acts. Thus, the formal and informal dichotomy is retained and it encourages further informalisation of the labour force. It can be said that the new labour codes essentially adopt the present trends in the labour market which are already incorporated in existing labour laws via amendments. Thus from the perspective of a common worker, the labour codes are not changing the reality as such. Thus, even though trade unions are opposing the labour codes and organising protests, the churning at the grassroots is not happening. Existing laws could not protect labour interests that much. The labour codes further deregulate labour markets but such deregulations already have taken place. Thus, from the common workers’ perspective things are not going to change much even if the labour codes are implemented. It explains the lack of enthusiasm among grass-root workers in participating and intensifying protests and agitations spearheaded by the opposing trade unions. Also, more than 90 percent of the workers are informal/unorganised. Apart from the minimum wages section of the Code on Wages 2019, other labour codes are not relevant for the majority of the labour force in India. Obviously, these vast majority do not identify themselves with the demands of trade unions. Informality further enhances the loss of identity as a worker. A significant part (52 percent) of the informal workers are self-employed. They lack the identity of a worker. Among wage workers mostly belong to footloose migrant workers and are scattered across space. In such a context, a unified intense pan India labour mobilisation is very difficult and unlikely to happen.
