Govt pushed ‘anti-worker’ labour codes after polls: Congress president

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the BJP-led government issued gazette notifications for the labour codes on May 8 and 9, in what he called a “cowardly manner” after the elections concluded.

Claiming the reforms would impact crores of workers, Kharge alleged that the new framework promoted hire-and-fire policies, contractual employment and restrictions on trade unions. He termed the changes the “biggest setback” to workers’ rights since Independence and accused the Centre of implementing them without consultations with labour organisations.

Attacking the Code on Wages, 2019, Kharge said the government had removed earlier benchmarks used to calculate minimum wages, including food, clothing, rent and fuel costs, and handed itself discretionary powers to decide wage criteria. He alleged this would lead to lower minimum wages and reduced take-home salaries due to changes in salary structuring rules. He further claimed that agricultural workers and domestic workers remained outside meaningful wage protection while MSMEs would face additional compliance burdens.

On the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020, the Congress chief alleged that workplace safety had been weakened through “decriminalisation” provisions that allowed companies to settle serious safety violations through monetary penalties instead of criminal prosecution.

Kharge also flagged the absence of mandatory safeguards for women working night shifts and insufficient accountability for the safety of contract workers.

Targeting the Social Security Code, 2020, he said the reforms had reduced social security to a “paperwork exercise”, particularly for workers in the unorganised sector, who form nearly 90 per cent of India’s workforce. He alleged that gig workers still lacked clear legal protection and guaranteed benefits.

The sharpest attack came over the Industrial Relations Code, 2020. Kharge alleged that raising the threshold for mandatory government approval before layoffs from 100 to 300 employees had severely weakened job security. He also criticised the provision mandating a 60-day notice before strikes, saying it effectively curtailed workers’ right to protest and collective bargaining.

Congress leader Pawan Khera cited a recent State Bank of India research report based on PLFS 2025 data to attack the government’s labour policies further. According to the report, Khera said, nearly 25 per cent of casual workers nationally were paid below statutory minimum wages, while Odisha recorded one of the highest rates of wage violations at 66 per cent. He also said agriculture accounted for the largest share of informal employment nationally.

Khera alleged that despite worsening labour conditions, the Centre was introducing policies that weakened wage protections, diluted workplace safety norms and curtailed workers’ rights while favouring corporates.