Cong: New labour codes just a cosmetic reform

LABOUR 'PAIN'? | Cong alleges 'hire & fire' will be easier; party asks Centre to ensure minimum wage of Rs 400 per day

- Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

The Congress on Saturday criticised the four new Labour Codes which were implemented by the Centre on Friday saying these would compromise job security and occupational safety and promote contractual labour.

At a protest against the new Labour Codes organised here, Congress's prominent Dalit leader Udit Raj, who is also national chairman of Unorganized Workers and Employees Congress (KKC), said the four new Labour Codes -- the Industrial Relations Code, OSH Code (Occupational Safety, Health Code), Social Security Code, and Code on Wages - have proved to be "completely ineffective on the ground, antiworker and solely corporatefriendly."

Raj alleged that codes have stripped away the rights of workers won through decades of struggle, ended job security, and pushed over 90 percent of the workforce in the unorganized sector into a state of confusion.