By Special Correspondent
Bhopal: The All Department Outsourced Temporary Employees Joint Front, Madhya Pradesh, has expressed deep concern over the Central Government’s new labour codes, alleging that the reforms weaken long-fought labour rights and legitimise an era of insecurity for India’s workforce.
Vasudev Sharma, president of the Joint Front, said the four new labour codes—created by merging 29 existing labour laws—are not meant to promote “Ease of Doing Business”, but rather to push workers into instability and exploitation. “These codes directly attack rights earned through decades of struggle and effectively legalise a ‘hire and fire’ regime,” he said.
According to the union, the new codes erode job security, limit the power of trade unions and make collective bargaining significantly more difficult. Strict limitations on strikes, including punitive action even for peaceful protests, will render industrial action “almost impossible”.
Fixed Term Contracts Institutionalised
Sharma noted that permanent jobs are being replaced by Fixed Term Contracts, enabling companies to hire workers for short durations and dismiss them immediately after the contract ends. This, he said, has strengthened the contractor system and accelerated informalisation within the manufacturing sector. While manufacturing employment has slipped from 12.9% to 12.1%, the proportion of contract workers has jumped from 15.5% to 27.9%.
Fixed-term employees, he added, earn less than permanent staff, receive no retrenchment compensation and face instant unemployment once their contracts expire.
Weakened Social Security, Widening Exclusion
The union highlighted that the threshold for employer permission for layoffs has been raised from 100 to 300 workers, giving companies greater freedom to terminate staff. Nearly 93% of India’s 610 million-strong workforce—most employed in the unorganised sector—will remain outside the protection of the labour codes.
Gig workers, domestic workers and employees of small establishments are also excluded. The union criticised diluted provisions on Provident Fund, gratuity and employer responsibility in cases where contractors fail to provide statutory benefits.
Calling the new framework “anti-worker”, the Joint Front has demanded that the Centre withdraw the labour codes in the interest of India’s workforce.
