TEN largest Central Trade Unions (CTUs) in India, including the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), have filed a complaint with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) against the Indian government for unilaterally suspending the country’s labour laws. The CTUs sought powerful and effective intervention to prevail upon the Government of India to refrain from such an exercise.

In a letter addressed to Guy Ryder, the director general of ILO, the unions condemned and complained about the retrograde anti-labour exercise of the Government of India towards virtual nullification of most of the substantive laws in vogue in the country by the central government through the state governments. The unions said that the exercise has been aimed at total abrogation of the critical provisions of not more than eight hour-working day and Right to Freedom of Association and Right to Collective Bargaining.

Citing the press release of ILO on May 13 by the Decent Work Team, Asia saying, “Certain states in India are moving towards relaxing labour laws with a view to revitalise the economy from the impact of Covid-19”, the unions said that such a statement tantamounts to certifying by ILO, the retrograde actions of the state governments in connivance with the government of India, in gross violation of ILO standards, as legitimate.

The unions highlighted that several state governments have already issued notifications in this respect. In Gujarat, an ordinance was passed on April 7 extending working hours from eight hours to12 hours a day; the work done beyond this will be paid as overtime but at the daily wage rate. It is to be noted that this is not double the daily wage as provided in Factory Act. It is also reported that the state is going to suspend all labour laws for 1,200 days, they said.

The unions informed the ILO that an ordinance was passed in Madhya Pradesh on May 6 which allowed suspension of most of the labour laws and notified extension of working hours from eight hours to 12 hours for a period of 1,000 days. Amendments to Shop and Establishment Act were made for allowing work from 6 am to 12 am in the night, making it virtually 18 hours of working without specifying if it will be two shifts or work at a go for the workers on the shops.

Working hours have been extended to 12 hours in Himachal Pradesh as well from April 21 to July 31 with overtime payment as per Factory Act with limits of hours in a week. In Uttar Pradesh, an ordinance has been issued on May 6 exempting Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) and other industries from all but four labour laws namely Bonded Labour Act, Workmen compensation Act, Building and Construction Workers Act, Maternity Act and section 5 of Payment of Wages Act 1936. The state has suspended all labour laws for the next three years.

The unions reported that by issuing ordinance, all 18 labour laws are put on suspension in Haryana as well. The increase in working hours from 8 to 12 hours is also part of the process rather the hours can go beyond 12 hours.

Following suit, Rajasthan and Punjab also extended working hours from 8 hours to 12 hours with applicability of the overtime payment and stipulated hours of work in a week. This is for three months from April 20.

In Uttarakhand, 18 labour laws have been put on suspension, including the Factory Act. Working hours have been enhanced from eight hours a day to 12 hours with provisions in the Factories Act about overtime and stipulated hours in a week in Maharashtra.

In a notification dated May 8, working hours have been enhanced from 8 to 12 hours in Odisha as well with overtime payment as per Factory Act with stipulated limits of hours in a week. This is for three months from April 20. Similarly in Assam, the governor increased the number of working hours from 8 to 12 hours in May, with overtime payment as per Factory Act with stipulated limits of hours in a week. This is for three months from April 20.

The Bihar state government is no exception and on May 9, gave orders to increase working hours from eight to 12. The letter from Bihar government to labour secretary, Government of India specifies that the state government would proceed for changes in other laws also and would bring out ordinance. Working hours have been enhanced from eight hours to 10 hours through executive notification in May 2020 in Karnataka.

The CTUs said that the states of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat are ceasing application of Trade Union Act, 1926 which is the main plank of Freedom of Association and Industrial Disputes Act which provides scope for collective bargaining and also right to strike, along with other substantive labour laws for a period of three years.

“We may refer here that the central government had discussed labour issues with industry associations in four groups on different dates from April 3 to10 who have asked the government to stall all trade union activities. There are clear reasons to understand that with the endorsement from, rather insistence of the central government on so-called labour law reforms on priority basis, the state governments have dared to attack on the basic rights of the workers,” the letter to the ILO head said.

The labour secretary of the central government has sent communications to all state governments in this regard. The trade unions said that the onus and responsibility of the entire exercise of virtually nullifying most of the labour laws and violation of the basic international labour standards through that exercise also falls on the central government.

“It may be noted that the central government, despite our protest and discussion through a virtual meeting on Zoom held on May 6, had not desisted from such brazen abrogation of workers’ rights and trade union rights.

The diabolical measures are being pushed taking advantage of lockdown period when no industrial action by workers is possible as most of the workplaces having been under lockdown during this period, the letter said.

The CTUs said that such an action by the state governments in connivance with the Government of India contravenes the basic principle of the Constitution of our country which in its article 19(1) (c) says “Trade union right is fundamental right of the citizens to form an association. It is an organisation or permanent relationship between its members in the matter of common concern. It thus includes the right to form company, societies, partnership, trade union, and political parties.”

The CTUs decried that the state government was with all enthusiasm had dishonoured the ILO ‘Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and its Follow-up’ adopted by the International Labour Conference at its Eighty-sixth Session, Geneva, on June 18, 1998, which stressed the core conventions of ILO.

The CTUs reminded that the Geneva declaration says that all members, even if they have not ratified the Conventions in question, have an obligation arising from the very fact of membership in the Organization to respect, to promote and to realize, in good faith and in accordance with the Constitution, the principles concerning the fundamental rights of freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining. It also ensures elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour; effective abolition of child labour and the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.

“There are umpteen number of instances which reflect refusal by the government the aims and procedures of ILO as if the government has no obligation to ILO. For example, it is mentioned in the Freedom of Association –Fifth (revised) edition that “it is the responsibility of the government to ensure application of international labour Conventions concerning freedom of association which have been freely ratified and which must be respected by all state authorities, including the judicial authorities,” the letter to the ILO director general said. 

The CTUs drew attention to the inhuman miseries of the tens of millions of inter-state migrant workers who have been thrown into misery during the lockdown period, reducing these most productive workforce along with their family members, both in the organised and unorganised sector of industries and services into job-less, earning-less and even shelter-less and penny-less non-entities, not having even a full meal a day; in desperation millions of them have been walking hundreds of miles on the highway, on rail tracks, or even through jungles to reach their home-states and hundreds of them died on the way owing to hunger, exhaustion and malnutrition related ailments besides in road and railway track accidents. All these have happened to them despite there being an enactment to regulate their service conditions, registration and welfare called Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act 1979 owing to tardy implementation, rather non-implementation of the provisions of this Act by the governments, both at the state and the centre.

In such a situation, the government is still moving to repeal this only enactment for migrant workers through the Occupational Safety Health & Working Conditions Code (OSHWC) 2019 which is still pending in parliament for enactment. This action of the government is like throwing the baby with the bathwater and reflects the inhuman insensitivity of the government towards the migrant workers.

They also highlighted the Occupational Safety Health & Working Conditions Code 2019 (OSHWC Bill 2019) which proposes to repeal this Act on the claim that provisions of the Inter-state Migrant Workmen Act 1979 have been subsumed in the Code Bill, which is not at all correct as can be verified from the Code Bill 2019, read with existing Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act 1979.

“All the migration specific protective provisions like registration of the migrant workers as well as establishments and contractors employing them, provisions of separate identity of migrant workers, principal employer’s obligation to payment of wages to the migrant workers deployed through contractor etc are done away with or thoroughly diluted in the proposed OSHWC Bill 2019 which is a matter of record. Moreover the definition of migrant workers in the OSHWC Bill 2019 has been made more restrictive through incorporation of threshold employment ceiling and wage ceiling to push out the majority of the migrant workers out of the purview of any protective legislation, wholly at the mercy of the employers,” the CTUs said.

They also warned that such a move of the Government of India also tantamounts to violation of basic ILO standards, principles of decent work, besides being in violation of human rights, it is also not in conformity with UN agenda 2030 on sustainable development goals for which India is also committed. These actions are quite contrary to the objectives of UN agenda 2030 as well.

Finally, they urged the ILO for its intervention to ensure that the Indian government does not proceed ahead with the abrogation of all basic labour rights, trampling underfoot the basic concept of social partnership and tripartism as espoused by the organisation.

The Director-General of the ILO, has sent the following response to the Central Trade Unions on May 25:

I ACKNOWLEDGE receipt of your communication dated 14 May 2020 wherein you request the ILO to intervene with the Indian authorities to urge necessary action for the protection of workers’ rights in light of measures being taken by a number of state governments to undermine labour legislation and international labour standards.

Please allow me to assure you that the ILO Director-General has immediately intervened, expressing his deep concern at these recent events and appealing to the prime minister to send a clear message to central and state governments to uphold the country's international commitments and encourage engagement in effective social dialogue.

I shall not fail to keep you informed of any observations or comments that may be made by the Indian authorities on the matters that you have raised.