ON DECEMBER 14, Jantar Mantar became a focal point of labour dissent as hundreds gathered demanding the immediate rollback of the four central Labour Codes, which the Union government notified for implementation on November 21. Organised by the Mazdoor Adhikar Sangharsh Abhiyan (MASA), a joint coordination platform of fourteen workers’ organisations and trade unions, the protest was marked by sustained sloganeering and speeches that denounced what participants described as the corporatisation of labour law and the worsening precarity of the working class.
The Jantar Mantar protest formed part of a broader national mobilisation. MASA coordinated demonstrations across multiple states, including West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Odisha, Karnataka, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand, with programmes held in Kolkata, Chennai, Patna, Bhubaneswar, Ludhiana, Davangere, and other cities.
Speakers highlighted concrete grievances arising from the Codes, including the Union government’s persistent refusal to engage in consultations with trade unions and its disregard for the tripartite framework. Despite reported police pressure and administrative constraints, the intensity of opposition—expressed through placards, impassioned speeches, musical performances, and resolute sit-ins, including significant participation by women workers—was unmistakable.
Why labour unions are protesting the labour codes
The new Labour Codes mark a decisive shift in the governing philosophy of labour regulation: away from the constitutional commitment to fair conditions of work and towards an overriding emphasis on “ease of doing business.” Since 2014, labour law has increasingly been reframed as an impediment to investment rather than as a mechanism for correcting structural inequality between labour and capital. This ideological reorientation undermines the social justice foundation of labour law and treats workers’ rights as transactional costs rather than enforceable entitlements grounded in Articles 14, 19, 21, and 23 of the Constitution.
The Codes place trade unions and workers on an unequal footing vis-à-vis employers. Trade unions may be deregistered for violations under the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, yet there exists no comparable sanction for companies under the Companies Act, 2013 or other corporate laws. Combined with severe restrictions on the right to strike, lawful collective bargaining becomes nearly impossible.
A legislative divide has been created between formal and informal workers. Workers without formal employment relationships, including contract and casual labour, are excluded from substantive legal protection and are instead relegated to non justiciable welfare schemes that the government ‘may’ implement. This also effectively leaves outside the ‘protective’ ambit of labour law and without access to judicial remedies large categories of workers including agricultural workers on small farms, domestic workers in low worker households, NREGA workers, government scheme workers such as ASHA and Anganwadi workers, gig and platform workers classified as partners or contractors, sex workers, and other categories of labour not recognised as “employees.” The exclusion of the Shops and Establishments Act further leaves out vast sections of service and commercial sector workers. Additionally, the failure to integrate workplace sexual harassment into the labour codes weakens protections for women workers.
By replacing multiple state-responsive statutes with omnibus central legislation, the Codes reduce the capacity of states to legislate for higher standards and better working conditions on a concurrent subject. Provisions delegating working-hour regulation to state governments create incentives for competitive deregulation and a race to the bottom, undermining the long-standing norm of an eight-hour workday.
Substantial regulatory power is also transferred from Parliament to the executive. Detailed statutory protections relating to occupational safety, factory regulation, bonus calculation, access to company financial information, and construction workers’ welfare have been replaced by broad enabling provisions authorising the executive to issue notifications. An example is the replacement of sector specific safety regimes with a single provision such as Section 18(1) of the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020. Criminal liability for serious violations such as non-payment of minimum wages, which the Supreme Court has recognised as a form of forced labour, has been replaced with compoundable monetary penalties.
Further, apprehensions regarding the Draft National Labour and Employment Policy, Shram Shakti Niti, 2025, issued by the Ministry of Labour and Employment, point it as an anti-worker initiative that departs from constitutional guarantees and established principles of modern labour law.
MASA’s key demands
According to MASA’s press release, “On the one hand, the profits of corporate capitalists are skyrocketing, while on the other, workers are being fired, wages reduced, working hours increased, and their dignity systematically attacked. Public sector industries, banks, and insurance are being relentlessly privatised, and essential social services withdrawn.”
MASA demanded immediate repeal of the labour codes, describing them as “anti-worker” laws that undermine workers’ rights and facilitate exploitation in the name of ease of doing business. The organisation called for an end to state repression of workers’ struggles and strikes, restoration of the freedom to organise and form unions, and abolition of contract and temporary employment in favour of permanent jobs.
It also demanded a statutory, inflation-linked minimum wage of ₹30,000 per month, expansion of rural employment guaranteeing 300 days of work at ₹1,000 per day, strict implementation of the eight-hour workday, recognition of gig and platform workers as workers, protection of migrant workers under the principle of “one working class, one struggle,” universal social security, a halt to privatisation of public assets, and unity against hate and divisive politics.