Bengal, Meghalaya and Nagaland are yet to notify draft rules for the implementation of any of the Union government’s four new labour codes, while several other states have done so for some but not all the codes.
No state has yet issued final rules on any of the four labour codes.
Some labour leaders and MPs have said the states’ inaction owes to advice from the trade unions, which see the codes as “anti-worker”.
Parliament subsumed 29 labour laws under the four codes.
The Code on Wages was passed in August 2019 while the Code on Industrial Relations, Code on Social Security, and the Code on Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions were passed in September 2020.
The Opposition alleges the codes were passed without adequate debate.
The Union labour ministry notified draft rules for all the codes in 2020, seeking feedback from the public.
The rules were shared with the states to enable them to prepare similar rules, since labour is a concurrent subject.
The Centre has so far not notified the final rules, because of the objections from the workers’ bodies as well as the industry’s opposition to the wage code.
“The trade unions approached the state governments and asked them not to notify the rules,” Tapan Sen, general secretary of CPM labour arm Citu, said.
“In Bengal, too, a delegation of trade union leaders met labour department officials and apprised them about the anti-worker provisions in the codes. The states are not keen on these laws.”
Among the states that have selectively notified draft rules is Tamil Nadu, which is yet to come out with draft rules for the social security code.
The industrial relations code allows firms engaging up to 300 people to fire workers without the need for state government approval; the wage code provides a “floor-level wage” that is already below the legally enforceable minimum wage in most states.
The occupational safety code exempts labour contractors engaging up to 50 workers from its ambit.
The social security code leaves unclear the respective financial obligations of the Centre, states and private employers.
DMK member M. Shanmugam raised the issue during Zero Hour in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, saying that several states were reluctant to notify the draft rules because of the codes’ anti-worker provisions.
He demanded the four new laws be repealed or kept in abeyance. He said the codes were passed “without having a discussion and developing a consensus”, had “paved the way for a ‘hire and fire’ policy”, and had restricted “the right to strike”.