Trade unions get ready for nationwide strike on July 9, BMS, NFITU not to join

Even as central trade unions have called for a nationwide strike on July 9 citing the government’s “anti labour” policies and have called for scrapping the four labour Codes, senior government sources have noted that the labour laws are now being implemented by the states while the Centre has so far not notified any of the four laws.
 
“As many as 31 state governments have implemented various provisions of the Labour Codes. The Centre is yet to notify any of them as it is now being taken up by states. The trade unions should be taking up these issues with state governments,” sources noted.
 
Several non-NDA rules states have also started rolling out provisions of the Codes, such as allowing women to work in night shifts, which has been implemented by Telangana, West Bengal, Kerala, Mizoram, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu. Similarly, several states have also notified provisions on compounding of offences in all four Codes.
 
Since labour is a concurrent subject, both the Centre and states can make laws on it. States have implemented several provisions in the Labour Codes by amending their own Acts. The move is seen as a means of attracting more investments and setting up of factories in their states.
 
However, central trade unions have seen the four Labour Codes, which consolidate 29 central labour laws into the Code on Wages, 2019, the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, the Code on Social Security, 2020 and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020, as being anti Labour. Consequently, which these were passed way back in 2019 and 2020, the Centre has not notified them due to a lack of consensus.
 
The Joint Platform of Central Trade Unions including INTUC, AITUC, HMS, CITU, AIUTUC, TUCC, SEWA, AICCTU, LPF and UTUC, along with , independent federations and the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha have called for a nation wide strike on July 9 against the government’s “anti workers, anti farmers and pro-corporate policies”, which is expected to impact daily life and industrial work.
 
At the joint call of All India Bank Employees Association, All India Bank Officers Association and Bank Employees Federation of India (AIBEA, AIBOA, BEFI), bank employees will also be participating in the strike to “protest against the anti-people economic policies and anti-worker labour policies of the Central government”. Other organisations such as the National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) have also extended complete support to the call for strike.
 
However, two trade unions including the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, which is the country’s largest trade union as well as the National Front of Indian Trade Unions along with about 18 state level trade unions have decided not to join the strike. As a result, the government remains hopeful that the strike will only have a marginal impact.
 
In a statement, BMS said it has welcomed and supported the Code on Wages and Code on Social Security and has decided not to join the strike.