The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:
Revoke Labour Code
The CPI(M) Polit Bureau strongly opposes the unilateral notification of the four Labour Codes by the BJP-led Central Government.
The Labour 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 Polit Bureau also condemns 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.
The CPI(M) calls for the immediate withdrawal of the Labour Codes and urges all trade unions and democratic forces to build united struggles 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.