Campaign against Wage Code Bill and Labour Code Bill

Activists of Communist Ghadar Party of India organised a public campaign against the Wage Code Bill and Labour Code Bill from 2nd to 13th September across the Okhla Industrial Area and the residential areas of workers in the area. Hundreds of men and women workers attentively watched and listened to the presentations held at numerous locations and asked many questions.

Okhla Campaign
Okhla Campaign
Okhla Campaign

The activists of CGPI explained that the bills that have been passed in the parliament claiming to make the labour laws “simpler” are in fact anti-worker and in favour of capitalist owners. Under the Wage Code Bill, the minimum wage has been fixed at Rs. 178 per day and Rs. 4628 per month. This amount is much less than the minimum wages already existing in many states. This is in complete violation of the demand for Rs. 18000 per month that the working class has been making since a long time. The bill also states that the dearness allowance will be revised only after 5 years, instead of annual revision. This means that the workers will have to suffer the increase in prices for 5 years, until the revision is considered.

The Labour Code Bill keeps 90 per cent of workers outside its scope and is applicable only to those enterprises that have at least 10 workers on their wage bill. This bill also keep the IT workers and workers termed as “managers” and “supervisors” out of its scope. This bill allows the capitalist to make the workers to work in excess of 48 hours per week. Already the workers are being forced to work for 12 hours a day for 6 days in a week, and this bill legalises this inhuman practice. The bill also allows the factory owners to employ women workers during night shift, but does not provide any guarantee for their safety.

As per the Labour Code Bill the worker can neither make any complaints against the management, nor can he approach any trade union for help. This bill completely eliminates the role of trade unions.

The public campaign stressed that there is no democracy in our country. This is “rule of capital”. That is the reason the laws are being amended in such a way that Indian and foreign capitalists will be able to make huge profits through maximum exploitation of the workers. The Labour Code Bill is anti-people, anti-social, anti-national, anti-worker and anti-peasant. As a result of such pro-capitalist policies the capitalists of our countries have grown rapidly and are competing with capitalists of the world, and exporting their capital to other countries to exploit the workers those countries as well. While explaining this, the speaker said that 70 percent of the wealth of our country is in the hands of one percent capitalists class and all the means of production are controlled by these handful of corporate houses. They decide which party or coalition of parties will form the government. They control the parliament and the economy of the country. That is the reason the laws are passed in their interests. In the present system demands of the workers fall on deaf ears.

The working class must take control of all the means of production! That is the only way to end the miserable conditions of workers and peasants of our country.

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