THE AMAZON INDIA WORKERS UNION (‘AIWU’), a trade union representing the warehouse workers employed at Amazon India, has filed a formal representation before the Ministry of Labour and Employment raising serious objections to the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 (‘OSHWC Code’) and the draft Rules framed thereunder in 2025.
The representation, signed by AIWU President Dharmendra Kumar and addressed to Shri Ravi Shankar Nirala, Under Secretary to the Government of India in the Ministry of Labour and Employment, argues that it is “imperative that the Code and the Rules have specific provisions relating to the requirement of minimum/maximum standards of heat, along with protective and preventive measures to safeguard against heat exposure.” It warns that the new Code and Rules not only fail to introduce any new safeguards against occupational heat stress, but have in fact dismantled protections that had existed for decades under the Factories Act, 1948.
