India's leading farmers' organization, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), has expressed its solidarity with workers observing a "black day" on September 23, 2024. The group demanded the Indian government repeal the four controversial labor codes, halt the privatization of public sector enterprises, eliminate the contractualization of employment, and lift the ban on recruitment.
The SKM urged farmers' groups to participate in solidarity actions across villages in support of this day of protest, which is driven by labor unions’ demands for the repeal of four labor codes viewed as anti-worker. The appeal is part of a broader initiative led by the Joint Platform of Central Trade Unions.
Critics argue that these labor codes promote conditions akin to modern slavery, undermining workers' rights and facilitating corporate interests to strip away essential entitlements related to fair working conditions, minimum wage, working hours, and social security. They also challenge workers' rights to organize, engage in collective bargaining, and strike.
The implementation of these codes is perceived as a direct attack on workers' rights to associate freely and negotiate collectively, as outlined in the International Labour Organisation's core Conventions 87 and 98, as well as in the Indian Constitution. It presents a concerted effort by the government to create "trade union-free" workplaces, while simultaneously ensuring that employers have significant freedom to hire and fire employees.
The Modi administration consolidated 29 existing labor laws into four labor codes: the Code on Wages, the Industrial Relations Code, the Code on Social Security, and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code.
Critics assert that these reforms are part of a neoliberal agenda aimed at reshaping labor relations and marginalizing large segments of both organized and unorganized workers from legal protections. While the Code on Wages was enacted in Parliament in 2019, the other three codes were passed in September 2020 without any debate, taking advantage of an opposition boycott associated with the controversial farm laws.
The Code on Wages has drawn criticism for failing to establish a proper basis for determining a minimum wage, further benefiting capitalists in an effort to enhance "ease of doing business." This legislation has been seen as legitimizing the exploitation of workers by employers, prompting widespread resistance from the labor movement.
In solidarity with these efforts, various peasant and agricultural workers' organizations, alongside progressive groups, decided to back the call for the repeal of the labor codes. Moreover, SKM condemned the Modi government for not convening the Indian Labour Conference (ILC) since 2015, viewing this as indicative of a broader disregard for constitutional principles and democratic engagement.
SKM urged both farmers and workers to collectively escalate their struggles against the labor codes, drawing parallels to the successful opposition mounted against the farm laws, as they seek to challenge the government's anti-worker and anti-people neoliberal policies.
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