Will big-bang labour reforms help workforce?
At a time when the Centre is mulling a new labour legislation to improve the investment climate in India, an investigation has exposed how women labourers working in garment factories in Tamil Nadu are forced to consume unlabelled drugs to enable them to work through menstrual pains without taking leaves. The Thomson Reuters Foundation interviewed over 100 women working in the garment industry in TN. All of them said they were being given the drugs and almost half said it resulted in health complications. The women also said their managers did not allow them toilet breaks.
This report has come at a time when the government is planning to table a new Labour Bill in Parliament. The ambitious Bill aims to group 44 labour laws and provisions under four codes—wages, industrial safety, social security and industrial relations. The government is hoping this reform of archaic laws will boost investments. Businesses have long been calling for reforms to the labour laws, which they claim are complicated. But labour welfare outfits have been cautious in welcoming the changes. The wage reform, which is likely to introduce a national minimum wage for all kinds of employment, has been widely welcomed, though some activists feel it would remain a paper tiger, much like the minimum support price to farmers. But the other three codes have attracted widespread criticism, including from RSS wing Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, for attempting to dilute the threshold limit on working hours, leaves and job security.
That apart, activists fear the Bill may not focus on a burgeoning section of workers who are a part of emerging sectors, such as drivers working for cab aggregators and delivery executives with food apps. Most of them, employed on contract, are denied fixed working hours and aren’t eligible for fixed pay or social security. Boosting investments is essential, but it’s also important that policymakers remember the plight of these labourers. Beyond minimum wages, the state must be able to guarantee them their Right against Exploitation.