Labour File:
The Disregarded Working Class
Our Country is supposed to
be one of the largest democratic
countries in the world. Democracy
is supposed to be the rule for
people. But ironically, the rulers
and the ruling-classes that run the
‘democratic’ system of our country
are willfully disregarding and
ignoring the weal of the workers
who create wealth and who
constitute the majority population
as a matter of no importance.
Particularly with the initiation
of neo liberal economic policies of
the imperialist globalization, our
rulers and ruling classes are
pursuing the policy of utterly
disregarding the working-class,
treating the workers as second rate
citizens not heeding to any of the
appeals of workers for alleviation
of their precarious living and
working conditions. On the
contrary instead of improving the
conditions of workers, the rulers
and ruling-classes started attacking
on the rights and entitlements of
workers legally granted by the
constitution. But surprisingly the
rulers calling these attacks on the
legal rights and entitlements of
workers as ‘labour reforms’ are
continuing them more and more
rashly without any compunction.
In reality the legal rights and
entitlements endowed by the
constitution are providing legal
protection to merely 7% of the
entire working population of our
country who are employed in the
organized sector. The remaining
93 per cent workers are
languishing in unorganized and
informal sectors including agri-
culture sector without any legal
security, protection or rights and
entitlements whatever.
Our rulers and ruling-classes
instead of providing legal security,
protection social security to these
93% of workers employed in
16
unorganized and informal sectors,
are rushing even to do-away the
legal rights and entitlements
available to those few number of
organized sector employees/
workers in the name of labour
reforms.
It is no secret that such anti-
worker policies and reforms are
implemented at the behest of World
Bank and International Monetary
Fund- the tools of imperialist
globalization.
While the U.P.A rulers who
initiated the neo-liberal economic
policies in our country have started
implementing the anti-worker
labour reforms in the form of
amending the labour-laws phase-
wise, the N.D.A rulers who came in
to the governmental power started
implementing these neo-liberal
economic policies with speed and
the ‘labour reforms’ aggressively
and ruthlessly disregarding and
undermining the workers and their
just aspirations and wishes for
better living and working conditions
in the form of entirely codifying the
44 labour laws of our land reducing
them in to 4 new labour codes in
the name of bringing about
economic growth and creation of
more and more employment. The
BJP ruled states Rajasthan,
Jharkhand and Maharashtra are
already in the fore front of doing
away with the legal rights and
entitlements of workers.
Recently in a book released
by the World-Bank (in April 2018),
it has advised various developing
countries to abolish the present
existing labour laws in those
countries, since those laws have
become an obstruction to the
employers, in making the workers
to do work as per their wish and
convenience. So in order to make
the employers to realize the total
benefits of technology and its
knowledge the existing laws have
to be abolished. The World Bank
advised other developing countries
to follow India as a model and use
its experiences and to implement
the “labour reforms’. World Bank
also recommended implementing
“Fixed Time employment” policies
in the place of permanent and
regular employment. It also
advised to implement social
security insurance schemes in the
place of social security policies and
schemes. The World Bank also
recommends to implement
universal based minimum wage
system – the U.B.I(Universal basic
Income) in the place of minimum
wage determining and fixing
policies implemented by various
governments and to link them with
social insurance schemes (not
social security schemes).
We are already aware that the
N.D.A government headed by Modi
has made preparations to codify 44
labour laws in to 4 labour codes viz.
1) Labour code of industrial
relations. 2) Code of occupational
safety 3) Code of wages 4) Code
of social welfare. The drafts of
these codes are finalized and
approved by the Central cabinet.
They are waiting to be introduced
in parliament and pass them in to
laws. The Fixed Time Employment
Bill also approved by the cabinet
is waiting to be made in to law. In
the name of social security
schemes to the unorga-nized and
informal sector workers who
constitute vast majority of the
workers in our country, various
insurance schemes and pension
schemes are announced and
introduced to which the workers
have to contribute from their paltry
wages, the funds of which would be
managed by the central govern-
ment which will be invested in
share-markets, subjecting them to
Class Struggle