Central Trade Unions (CTUs) demanded that all the four Labour Codes be put on hold. They accused the Government of holding “farcical” bi and tripartite discussions on framing the Labour Code rules only as a show of compliance with ILO commitments.

The RSS-backed Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) while stopping short of demanding the laws be put on hold, protested strongly against the Labour Ministry’s exercise of framing the rules.

The BMS demanded protection for contract workers in the Labour Codes. In a meeting with the Labour Minister, the BMS representatives protested the exclusion of establishments with less than 50 contract workers from the purview of the Labour Codes and said the Codes should provide for their protection also.

“In the consultation meeting held by Labour minister on Wednesday with all the central trade unions, the BMS demanded that Codes should provide that contractors should comply with ESI and EPF strictly. Employers’ liability to pay wages, EPF, ESI and other benefits should be ensured even when one contract worker is employed. Even in emergency situation, contract labour should not be permitted since they will be engaged for long. The government departments and establishments should not be exempted from the Codes, as they are increasingly engaging contract labour and temporary workers. Similarly, fixed term employment should not be allowed to take the place of permanent jobs,” read the BMS statement.

Flouted Parliament norms: CTUs

According to the Joint Platform of Central Trade Unions, the government has flouted all parliamentary norms and tripartite consultations in violation of the commitments on international labour standards and the ILO Conventions in the passage of the Codes that concern the lives of over 500-million-strong workforce in the country. They demanded that consultations should start afresh with the CTUs on each of the Labour Code afresh in the true spirit of bipartite and tripartite consultations.

“The proposals given by the Central Trade Unions on the Codes when these were put in public domain without any prior consultation and involvement of unions were not given any cognisance by the government. The draft Labour Codes which were posted in the public domain and the one which were approved by the Cabinet and subsequently passed in the Parliament flouting parliamentary procedures and norms were totally different. The recommendations made by the Parliamentary Standing Committee were also rejected by the government,” said the CTUs.

“The Government is not serious either on bipartite discussions or tripartite discussions in accordance with the ILO conventions. The Government is rushing to push the implementation of all these codes under pressure from the corporate and employers’ organisations. The CTUs demanded that all the four codes should be put on hold and discussions should start afresh,” said their statement.

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