Suspension of Labour Laws

“We need to learn to live with the virus”. These were the words of the joint secretary of Union Health Ministry ‘Lav Agarwal’ during one of his press meets. Today the entire world is fighting the ‘Novel Coronavirus’.  The rapid spread of COVID-19 has forced countries to use every trick in the book to contain the disease and among these tricks was the imposition of nationwide lockdowns.

The imposition of lockdown might have caused very little hardship for the people employed in the organized sector as they would be getting a fixed salary every month. However, the section that is the most affected due to this lockdown is the labor section of the society especially the daily wage labors. The spread of the virus and the economic lockdown enacted by the Government of India as a response to stop the spread of the virus, has resulted in significant economic hardship for the labor section of the society. These effects are both substantial and widespread. According to a survey, 84% of Indian households report a decrease in income since the lockdown. A third of Indian households reports not having enough resources to go on for more than a week before facing distress.

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Several organizations have estimated a recession of the global economy, with the western countries who are often recognized due to their economic superiority, would be having a negative economic growth due to this pandemic. Along with these projections regarding the economy, several MNCs having their factories in China, which is regarded as the epicenter of the COVID-19, are now working towards shifting their production out of China to India because of the availability of cheap labor in India.     

Seeing this as an opportunity to increase foreign investments in India, the Government of India introduced several incentives for new establishments including changes to the existing labor laws.  These changes were meant to attract MNCs as they can now set up their factories on the Indian soil not only with new incentives but also with relaxed labor laws. Some state legislatures have agreed to make significant changes to the implementation of labor legislation. Three BJP ruled states – Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat – announced the most significant changes. But several other states ruled by the Congress (Rajasthan and Punjab) and Biju Janata Dal in Odisha have also made some changes. However, among these states, Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state and the state with the most migrant labor population made the boldest decision by suspending almost all the labor laws in the state for the next three years.

After this move of the governments, several social activists, lawyers and labor unions have criticized this move of the government as these suspension and amendment of labor laws are violative with regard to the basic rights provided by the Constitution of India. Thus, placing the suspension of laws stand under the Constitutionality test.  

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States such as Rajasthan and Gujarat have increased the working hours of the labours from eight hours to twelve hours. Hence, creating a situation of forced labor. The Ordinance issued by the government of Uttar Pradesh defunct almost all the important labor laws and rules thereunder relating to workers and those concerned with safety of their labours, industrial disputes, contract workers, trade unions, fair practices of hiring and firing, etc. for a period of three years. Government of Madhya Pradesh through a gazette notification amended the Industrial Dispute Act, 1947 and allowed new establishments to be exempted from provisions of the Act except the Chapter V-A and V-B. The Odisha government modified the existing eight-hour shift to twelve-hour shift by tweaking the Factories Act, 1948 considering representations of certain industries and industries associations.

Moving towards the legality of these actions by the governments, we can find two important judgments of the Supreme Court. The first being the judgment pronounced by a seven-judge bench of the court in Krishna Kumar Singh v. State of Bihar[1]. Recognizing that the governments are misusing the power of issuing ordinances, the court held that the ordinances are subject to judicial challenge. The second important judgment with regard to the protection of labours was given in PUDR v. Union of India in the year 1982. In its judgment, the court clearly held that laws such as the Equal Remuneration Act, the Minimum Wages Act, the Contract Labor Act, etc. which protect the contract labours and inter-state migrants are intended to ensure basic human dignity. The violation of these laws would violate the fundamental right under Article 21 i.e. ‘Right to Life’. In addition to these, the court also held that prohibition of forced labor under Article 23 also include the threat of imprisonment and fine and not just the use of physical force. 

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The ordinance issued by the Uttar Pradesh government with regard to suspension of Trade Unions Act, 1926 is also violative of the basic fundamental right to form association including a trade union mention under Article 19(1)(c) of the Constitution of India. Further, we can also find that the amendment and suspension of labor laws are also violative of the Article 39 the Constitution of India (make effective provisions for securing the right to work), Article 42 the Constitution of India (make provisions for just and humane conditions of work) and Article 43 the Constitution of India (To secure a living wage, a decent standard of living and social and cultural opportunities for all workers) enshrined under the Directive Principles of State Policies. Hence, we can clearly find that the government’s idea to amend or suspend the labor laws clearly violates not only the fundamental rights but also the Directive Principles of State Policy.

Several writers and activists have expressed that with the use of ordinances by the state governments to suspend and amend such important laws is an ‘assault’ to the constitution and is a ‘contempt’ of democracy. In fact, several critics have said that the Industrial Relations Code, which the Parliament is deliberating, was a good start towards the protection of the core interests of the workers. However, the issuing of ordinances by the governments during this pandemic when many have lost their jobs have proved to affect the basic right to live with dignity.

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These changes were made to revive the economic activities and generate employment opportunities in the states. But, the benefits of this move of the government after implementation still remains unclear. Who will benefit, the labours or the industries no one knows. Analysts say that with few labor regulations there are chances of an increase in job opportunities, but past experiences with regard to suspension of labor laws didn’t show any significant changes. Hence, we need to wait and see whether these changes attract investments and increase job opportunities or pushes the labor section into more vulnerability. If some paradoxical situation begins in comparison to what the government is planning, then both the Centre and the state governments have to bring these changes to end.

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