LABOUR LAWS IN INDIA

1. Context

2. Key takeaways

• In addition to being the starting point of the possible onset of another scorching summer, the month of April also witnessed two important happenings that are tied to the country’s avowed economic-industrial transformation, demanding our attention.
• The first was the passage of a piece of legislation in the Tamil Nadu Assembly that amended the Factory Act of 1948, to extend the number of working hours in a day, from eight hours to 12 hours.
• A similar piece of legislation was passed in the Karnataka Assembly, a few months ago. However, in his address during the May Day celebrations in Chennai, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, M.K. Stalin, announced the withdrawal of the legislation.
• This announcement comes on the back of the temporary hold on further action on the Bill by the Tamil Nadu government, after strong opposition; this includes the State government’s alliance partners and trade unions. 

3. What are labour Laws?

• Labour law is a body of laws and regulations which deals with the legal rights of, and restrictions on, working people and their organizations.
• It mediates multifaceted aspects of the relationship between the stakeholders: trade unions, employers, and employees.
• Labour law defines the rights and obligations of workers, union members, and employers in the workplace.
• Generally, labour law covers Industrial relations – certification of unions, labour-management relations, collective bargaining, and unfair labour practices; Workplace health and safety; Employment standards, including general holidays, annual leave, working hours, unfair dismissals, minimum wage, layoff procedures, and severance pay.

4. Why there is a need to have Labour Laws?

• It brings in effect a legal system to facilitate organizations and collective employment relationships resulting in a productive economy;
• It provides a framework for the employers, workers and, their representatives to interact about work-related issues.
• It acts as a vehicle for achieving harmonious industrial relations based between the stakeholders;
• It provides a guarantee of fundamental principles and rights at work that have received broad social acceptance.
• It also establishes the processes through which these principles and rights can be enforced.

5. Evolution of Labour laws in India

• The industrial/labour legislation enacted by the British was primarily intended to protect the interests of British employers.
• Considerations of British economic interests were the priorities in shaping some of these early laws.
• The Factories Acts, 1883 and 1893- It was the first labour law by the British which stipulated eight hours of work, the abolition of child labour, the restriction of women in night employment, and the introduction of overtime wages for work beyond eight hours.
• The earliest Indian statute to regulate the relationship between an employer and his workmen was the Trade Dispute Act, of 1929 (Act 7 of 1929).
• Provisions were made in this Act for restraining the rights of strike and lockout but no machinery was provided to take care of disputes.

• Free India’s labour law framework began with the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 as independent India called for a clear partnership between labour and capital.
• The base of this partnership was unanimously approved in a tripartite conference in December 1947.
• It was at this conference that labour would be given a fair wage and working conditions and in return, capital would receive the harmonious cooperation of labour for uninterrupted production and higher productivity as part of the strategy for national economic development.

6. Changes in labour laws

• The eight-hour working day, adopted by the International Labour Organization in 1919, is a hard-won right by workers and trade unions, who have had to struggle over the years to keep capricious policy changes at bay.
• While appreciating the action initiated by the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, the passage, in the first place, of these pieces of legislation (which has justifiably led to anger and outcry among trade unions and labour support groups) signals the intent of governments to house investments by transnational corporations (through their supply chains), by ramping up capacities and provisioning incentives.
• As a matter of fact, these legislative changes could trace their legacy to the four labour codes passed by the central government in 2019-20, which, in turn, have weakened the labour protection architecture, lowered thresholds and squeezed collective bargaining, thereby effectively curtailing their actual operability.
• The key missing component in all these changes in the labour ecosystem is social dialogue.
• Not only are sustained processes of consultations with workers being shortcircuited or ignored altogether but these are also being considered anathema by almost all ruling dispensations irrespective of political persuasions.

7. Apple opening two retail stores in India

• The second development in April which was widely publicised with much fanfare was Apple’s opening of its first two retail stores in India, in Mumbai and then Delhi in the presence of the Apple CEO who was in India for the events.
• Last year, expressed bullishness about the brand’s business prospects in India, which was lapped up and trumpeted as a sign of India is well and truly in the race to run parallel with China, if not completely eclipse it in the long run.
• However, cutting through the hype, what is left unsaid is how Apple, and by extension, other transnational corporations too, thrive by tantalising a race between India and China.

8. Considering mainland China as a template

• The two happenings in April may seem separate, but from a labour-centric perspective, it is only rational to spot the connection.
• Already, under its ‘Make in India initiative’ and later with the Production Linked Incentives scheme, the central government aims to turn the country into a manufacturing hub, like China. In this larger design, the electronics industry has received top priority and, within it, Apple (entwined with Foxconn as the main supplier) has come to be considered, the gold standard.
• In line with this, the central government has been working in close coordination with various State governments, including Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, to work out common strategies to capitalise on the company’s diversification plans away from China.
• For years, Foxconn has had a stable base in Tamil Nadu (encouraging other Taiwanese companies in other sectors as well).
• As a part of its corporate social responsibility obligations, it has even reciprocated by making massive financial contributions to the State government’s educational initiatives. 
• Such coordination and mobilising efforts by governments resemble the symbiotic relationship between Apple Foxconn and the Chinese Communist Party state. 

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