Unions protest against four labour codes

New Delhi: A joint forum of 10 central trade unions, farmers' body Sanyukt Kisan Morcha and members of the All India Power Engineers Federation on Wednesday held nationwide protests against the four Labour Codes introduced by the government last week.

The Centre notified the codes on November 21, ushering in reforms including universal social security coverage for all, mandatory appointment letters for all employees, statutory minimum wages and timely payment across sectors.

In a memorandum to President Droupadi Murmu, the joint forum said, "These codes negate our right to strike, make union registration problematic, de-recognition of unions easy, the process of conciliation and adjudication cumbersome, winding up labour courts and introducing tribunal for workers, overriding power to registrars to de-register unions."


According to them, changes to Industrial Relations Code and its rule for raising applicability threshold to 300 from 100 would push 70% of industries out of the coverage of labour laws.