OdishaPlus Bureau
The current crisis caused by Novel Corona Virus (COVID19) has brought an opportunity for various states to scrap most of their labour laws in order to lure the companies fleeing out of China. The BJP ruled states- Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh are among the first states to introduce ordinance and further amendments to their labour laws to fetch the early benefits.
The laws were previously into discussion by the BJP Govt. for necessary changes in order to mitigate the structural block associated with ease of doing business. There have been 45 laws at the central level and nearly 200 laws at the state level.
The laws basically deal with working hours regulation, wages, occupational hazards at workplace, industrial dispute settlements, etc. Reportedly, some of the laws that have become temporarily obsolete in these states include those related to trade unions, working conditions of workers, contract workers and the settlement of industrial disputes.
Nevertheless, laws such as timely payment of salaries and wages, definite hours of working and bonded labour will still continue to exist. Punjab is one among the states where 12 hours a day (72 hours a week) policy has already been endorsed.
It is widely believed in the realm of capitalistic modes of production that squeezing the labour laws reduces the cost of production and brings out the flexibility to the industries of an economy. The pontificators of such ideas also believe that this would increase the output and employment in an economy.
However, this has not been the case if we practically look at the evidence. Furthermore, such policy could result in the opposite way as well. Since almost 90% of our workforce work in informal sector, reduced income of a huge working class could adversely affect the aggregate demand and hence the output.
The profitability not only depends upon wage bill but also other factors like growth of investments, availability of credits from various sources, economic policies, infrastructure, market size and so on. If we keenly observe the net inflation (as a proxy for real wage growth), it is almost flat for the last decade. The matter of the fact is that the labour laws in India have never been stringent and pro-worker. Therefore, further streamlining of the existing law is redundant at least for the present scenario.
The ordinance has received a severe backlash from the opposition and several trade unions including the Center of Indian Trade Union and Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh. Apparently, when the country is in midst of a pandemic and lakhs of migrant workers trudging back to their homes precariously, it is paradoxical to have such policies to snatch away their fundamental rights.
On the other hand, the move can earnest attempt by the governments to tide over the prolonged employment crisis and slowdown in the economy. There has been a great amount of loss that the industries are facing right now. So in this circumstance, the middle ground could be a mutual understanding between activists and the policy makers. Given the instance of Vishakhapatnam gas leak disaster, activists and majdoor sangh should fight for the occupational safety, protection and health, where India has a miserable record.
The states like Odisha, Bihar, UP, Rajastan, West-Bengal are the among the major states from where large number of people migrate other states searching for works should learn from this pandemic. Protection against contingencies, provision for social security, and condition at work plays a crucial role. Mass return of labourers would not have happened if those workers would have been ensured of such provisions.
On the top of that abrogation of labour laws would definitely reduce the bargaining power in the hands of the laborers and facilitate growth of informal employment which is not at all healthy for an economy in the long run. It seems that various state governments’ labour law reforms tend to barter labour rights for business interests. It should safeguard interest of labour rather than corporate houses.