UNORGANISED WORKERS COUNT LABOUR CODES FOR NOTHING

• (Relevant for Sociology Syllabus: Paper 1 – Works and Economic Life ; PAPER-2 – Social Changes in India )
• (Relevant for GS Syllabus: Paper 1- Social empowerment.)

• Much-awaited labour reform is a step away. After the wage Code 2019 in May, the three more labour Codes of Occupational Safety, Health & Working Conditions, Social Security, and Industrial Relations have passed in both houses of parliament and got the assent of the President. And now all the Codes are to come in the form of notifications to become full-bodied Acts.
• All kinds of formalities for the four Codes started in 2002, immediately after the recommendations of the Second Labour Commission. The recommendations were mainly two; firstly to amendments of all existing labour laws to be relevant in the globalization period and secondly to have labour law of unorganised workers to get legalised documentation about them.
• Consequently, the National Commission for Enterprises in the Un-organised Sector (NCEUS) was constituted and its report led India to have the Unorganised Workers’ Social Security Act (2008).
  As all studies accepted that the Unorganised Workers’ Social Security Act (2008) was the first step of India to bring about 93 percent of workers who were unorganized under a legal framework.
• Because the UWSSA, 2008 had defined the term ‘unorganized worker’ as a home-based worker, self-employed worker, a wage worker in the unorganized sector and includes a worker in the organized sector who is not covered by any labour Acts mentioned in Schedule ll of the Act.
• But all laws of 29 included UWSSA, 2008 have replaced with new four Codes now. Therefore, according to new Labor Codes the workers who are not coming under any dimensions and benefits as per the same, are all unorganized workers.
• Today the procedure of formulation for labour Codes is going to end and India is ahead of labour reforms in the economy and development scenario. The Government, employers, and some experts are claiming that all these Codes’ bills went through various deliberations including Parliament’s committee on labour.
• As a result of the final stage, Union Labour Minister said in parliament that the 74 suggestions were adopted out of 100 proposed changes in the Labour Code Bills and asserted that the new labour Codes institution is an initiation of historical labour reforms in the country.
• With regard to these Codes, the Government visions are creating more jobs concerning trade union and industrial relation Acts amendments, taking away multiple forums, particularly in labour law disputes with only two forums i.e a conciliation officer and tribunals, removal of hazardous work at any time of the day and place for women, recognizing the rights of transgenders at the first time in the labour market, and extension of social security protection to contract, temporary, migratory, casual workers including gig workers, platform workers like Rivigo, Ola, Uber drivers and food & goods delivery personnel of Flipkart, Amazon, Zomato and Swaiggy, etc.
• Despite some advantages of new labour Code initiatives, it is a matter of fact that still, the Codes remain unclear in many areas, especially in terms of definitions on the unorganised worker or organised worker, registration of establishments, enrolments of workers into social security schemes, the provisions of keeping full data of workers of the country, including unorganised workers and institutionalized social security schemes and its funds, whereas the UWSSA, 2008 had at least defined the term unorganised worker and enrolments of workers into social security schemes.
• More than that the possibilities of the adverse effect of the new labour Codes’ provisions in the matter of protection of workers’ rights, the retrenchment of workers will be high in rate. Thus, the possibility for increased unorganized workers is wide and chance is more for the exclusion of a large number of informal, migrant, home-based, and self-employed workers from the so-called universal social security scheme which has envisaged in the Code. In this context, an analytic study would teach, how these Codes are going to breed unorganised workers in a high number as undocumented or legalised in the country during the labour reform era.
• Handle with Care Above analysis indicates, it is not wrong to say that, the unorganised workers count new labour codes for Nothing and set-aside all the hopes of India that would get decent works and dignified workers as an outcome of Second Labour Commission, National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector and the Unorganised Workers’ Social Security Act (2008) based on International Labour Standards.
• Since the provisions of the new labour Codes make enough room for unorganised workers, it would be better to handle with care the same to reduce the number of unorganised workers in the country. Because the exploitation of workers in the Indian labour market would be rampant in the forthcoming days of post-covid 19, where new labour codes prevail with new forms of business cum- innovative framework e.g. aggregators, FDI etc. and landscape changes of the labour market e.g. work from home. Robotics is going to take part in the fourth industrial revolution era.
• Thus the role of stakeholders, Governments, Trade Unions, Employer Associations of labour economics become more vital to provide the core needs of workers, both basic and economic, by which economic growth of the Nation would cater to the needs of many workers not only covering contingencies.