Stop the return to laissez-faire

Context: The recent scrapping of Labour laws by state governments have neglected the civilizational, constitutional, and democratically formed idea of social justice in India.

Laissez-faire: it is abstention by governments from interfering in the workings of the free market

Problems of the workers:

• Starvation: The workers right to go home was curbed under Disaster Management Act, 2005 and no provisions for wages, food etc were ensured.
• Abrogation of laws: Workers are now being subdued by denying maternity benefits, increased work shifts and relaxed dispute settlement. 

Evolution of labour laws

• Before independence:

• Colonial exploitation: barbaric system of indentured labour introduced through the Bengal Regulations VII, 1819 that legalized 5-year contract and desertion was made punishable.

• Debt Slavery: Although Factories Act of 1911 reduced the number of working hours to 12 (from 16), yet low wages and harsh conditions forced workers into ‘debt slavery’.

• National Movement: Trade unions were formed,  and worker demands supported by political leaders took towards formation of Royal Commission on Labour 1935 which resulted in reforms.

• After Independence:

• Legislative actions: Through Minimum Wages Act wages were ensured, The Industrial disputes Act ensured workers participation to resolve wage, ensured Directive Principles of State Policy and Fundamental rights under Articles 21 and 23.

• Judicial Pronouncements: Supreme Court is of the opinion that socio-economic justice necessitates statutory protection for the workers. Upholding the democratic process, it rejected the central govt. attempt to unilaterally deny bonus and warns against ‘lawless hiatus’.

Present State Action

• Undemocratic and unconstitutional :

• • • • No statutory support: Labour is a concurrent subject, yet current State ordinances negate central laws which now cover almost all labour contracts and is achieved through democratic process.

• No ‘public emergency’: Factories Act empowers the State governments to exempt only in case of a “public emergency”, which not the case presently.

• President’s approval: The Constitution does not envisage approval by the President of a State Ordinance that makes laws enacted by Parliament inoperable in the absence of corresponding legislations on the same subject.

Conclusion

• Labour laws are civilizational goals and cannot be trumped on the excuse of a pandemic as they are regulatory laws provided for countervailing balance to unequal bargaining power between capital and labour.