The Unorganised Workers & Employees Congress stages massive protest in New Delhi demanding immediate rollback of the ‘anti-worker’ codes
NEW DELHI — The workers wing of Congress, the main opposition party in the country, on Saturday staged a massive protest outside Shram Shakti Bhawan in the national capital, opposing the implementation of the Centre’s new Labour Codes.
The protest by Unorganised Workers & Employees Congress (KKC) was led by its national chairman and former MP Dr Udit Raj. Senior KKC leaders—including Ramesh Kumar Yadav, Sanjay Gaba, Shahid Ali, CP Soni, Dr Anshu Anthony, Vinod Pawar and Naresh Malik—joined the demonstration along with hundreds of workers. Protesters burned copies of the gazette notifications of the Labour Codes, calling the laws “corporate-driven” and “anti-worker.”
Addressing the gathering, Dr Udit Raj said the four Labour Codes brought by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government had weakened unions, reduced wages, and stripped crores of workers of their hard-won rights. “These laws are a complete failure on the ground. They have destroyed job security and pushed 90% of India’s workforce into confusion,” he said, announcing that KKC would launch a nationwide agitation for their repeal.
Dr Raj said the Industrial Relations Code, OSH Code, Social Security Code, and Code on Wages collectively legitimise “hire-and-fire,” dilute workplace safety, reduce social security to mere paperwork, and impose wage structures that leave workers with less money in hand. He alleged that the codes prioritise “corporate flexibility over worker rights,” undermining decades of labour protections.
KKC demanded that the government scrap the Labour Codes immediately; else it will go any extent for its reversals.
Meanwhile, major left party CPI(M) also demanded that the government must take back these laws. The CPI(M) Politburo said it strongly opposes the unilateral notification of the labour codes.
The codes dismantle 29 hard-won labour laws that have, till now, protected the workers to some extent. Despite many limitations, to an extent the wages, working hours, social security, industrial safety, inspection–compliance mechanisms, and collective bargaining were in place. Instead of simplification, the new codes seek to dilute and abolish long-established existing rights and entitlements and shift the balance sharply in favour of employers.
The government’s claim that the Labour Codes will boost employment and investment is completely baseless. The codes are designed to leave labour unprotected in the face of the onslaught of capital. Their aim is to lure national and international capital by ensuring that all meaningful regulations covering various aspects of labour rights will be nullified. Further, they seek to snatch away the right to strike and criminalise any collective action by the working class.
The Labour Codes, in totality, seek to establish a jungle raj by unilaterally empowering the corporate class to bulldoze the rights and entitlements of workers with proactive sponsorship of the government and administration.
The politburo also condemned the gross obnoxious violation of democratic and federal norms in pushing these codes without genuine tripartite consultation with the stakeholders, particularly the workers. “The government sidelined trade unions throughout the process and rushed the legislation through Parliament without debate. Rather, the government arrogantly rejected the valid objections to the Labour Codes based on irrefutable arguments and concrete documentary evidence,” it said.
The CPI(M) called for immediate withdrawal of the Labour Codes and urged all trade unions and democratic forces to build a united struggle to resist the authoritarian design of the government and defend the rights and entitlements of the working people, and their struggle for more comprehensive labour rights and protections.
