North Lakhimpur: The Lakhimpur district unit of the Communist Party of India (CPI) held a protest march on Thursday to mark the 81st anniversary of the Quit India Movement and protest against the new Labour Code 2023.
The march was led by Arup Kalita, the secretary of Lakhmpur- CPI, and was joined by All India Trade Union Congres (AITUC), Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), Trade Union Coordination Centre (TUCC) and various local workers bodies.
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The protesters marched through the main streets of North Lakhimpur from the CPI’s district office to the District Commissioner’s office.
They shouted slogans against the governments at the centre and state and demanded the scrapping of the Labour Code 2023. They termed the move to implement the new Labour Code as undemocratic.
The CPI has been demanding the scrapping of the Labour Code since it was tabled as a bill in 2020.
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The party is critical of the provisions in the code which allow companies with up to 300 workers to lay off people without the concerned state government’s approval.
Previously, this facility was only available to companies employing up to 100 people.
The CPI also said that the code makes it easier for employers to flout legally required social protection for workers with no stringent penalty for non-contribution of Provident Fund dues by employer or contractor.
The Labour Code, which was passed by the Parliament on September 23, 2020, amidst the opposition boycott, ensures no timely payment of dues, and penal provisions for large employers who have the capacity to pay regular Provident Fund contributions.
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The code also has ‘loopholes’ on issues related to gratuity in which the principal employer is not liable if the contractor, the marginal actor fails to pay.
The protestors said that the current Labour Code is the outcome of three bills—the Industrial Relations (IR) Code, the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (OSH) Code, and the Social Security Code, along with the Code on Wages, 2019, amalgamating 44 labour laws.
All the Codes deal with wages, industrial relations, social security, safety, and welfare conditions and have been incorporated with the objective of turning the Indian economy into the third largest in Asia.