A women’s rights group has become the latest to criticise some of India’s states for suspending or amending existing labour laws, which it says will contribute further to informalisation of the workforce and compromise working conditions.
State governments, including Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh, have increased the workday to 12 hours and the standard workweek to 72 hours. The changes have been made to try to curb the impact of the Covid-19 mandated lockdown, with the changes affecting a number of industries, including textiles.
In a cabinet meeting held on 6 May, the Uttar Pradesh government suspended 35 out of 38 labour laws governing trade unions, industrial dispute and contract workers. All establishments in the state are exempt from all the labour laws for a period of three years.
The Working Group on Women in Value Chains (WiVC) says the relaxation of labour laws has “far reaching adverse implications” on the rights and well-being of workers, including women and children.
“It needs to be noted that these changes have been made without social dialogue and consultation process (especially with those who are directly impacted by the change in the rules) and the due legislative oversight being applied. These are also in contravention to international labour standards of the ILO to which the Government of India is a signatory.”
The multi-stakeholder group says it fears the reputation of India could be “irreparably damaged” as a result and that the changes are against the spirit of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), National Guidelines on Responsible Business Conduct (NGRBC) and the draft National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights (NAP) that India is looking to adopt.
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalData“This is likely to have negative impacts on India’s competitiveness as the gap between buyer driven labour standards/regulations (as demanded by MNCs/international businesses) and our public regulations expands,” WiVC adds. “It risks drawing Indian suppliers into a regime that would make them uncompetitive in the international market, since buyers are likely to avoid manufacturing clusters vulnerable to violations of internationally recognised labour rights.”
The group says that while it recognises the need to facilitate industrial development and manufacturing base in India, and the need for reforms in labour laws, that due social dialogue and consultation with relevant stakeholders needs to be undertaken prior to execution.
It offers a number of suggested actions for different stakeholders, including the government respecting the requirement of triparty consultation before proposing any amendments in future; civil society groups engaging with brands, buyers, manufacturing units/suppliers and government duty-bearers to ensure the health and safety of workers; and major brands and suppliers adhering to internationally recognised labour standards.
It also calls for the promotion of access to social security schemes and other entitlements for vulnerable workers and their families, and collective action to reduce worker abuse and exploitation.
Valter Sanches, general secretary of IndustriAll, said recently: “We strongly condemn the Indian state governments’ attempt to increase working hours and suspend labour laws. Let us not forget that workers are in the frontline of the fight against Covid-19.
“The central government should not allow draconian labour law changes that are against internationally established human rights and international labour standards. The state governments should immediately withdraw anti-worker labour law changes. IndustriAll Global Union stands in solidarity with the Indian trade union movement to defend workers’ rights.”
