The letter states: “In such a situation, Government’s decision to repeal the Inter State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Services) Act 1979 through the Occupation Safety Health & Working Conditions Code (OSHWC) 2019 is going to be disastrous and suicidal for all concerned. This Act of 1979 at least provides for some protection and rights relating to employment, identity, wages and other working conditions for the migrant workers. The Act envisages the obligation of the governments from both ends (sending states and the recipient states) for registration of migrant workers through contractors/contracting agencies and also the establishments employing them, and the Act also provides certain rights and welfare measures for them. But this Act continued to be worst violated Act right from the day of the enactment.”

It adds: “Repealing the Act itself cannot be a solution. The Occupation Safety Health & Working Conditions Code 2019 (OSHWC Bill 2019) proposes to repeal this Act on the claim that provisions of the Inter State Migrant Workmen Act 1979 have been subsumed in the Code Bill, which is not at all correct as can be verified from the Code Bill 2019. All the migration specific protective provisions like registration of the migrant workers as well as establishments and contractors employing them, provisions of separate identity of migrant workers, principal employer’s obligation to payment of wages to the migrant workers deployed through contractor etc are done away with or thoroughly diluted in the proposed OSHWC Bill 2019 which is matter of record.”

The central trade unions have Unions strongly urged that the Government’s move to repeal the Inter State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Services) Act 1979 through the Occupation Safety, Health & Working Conditions Code (OSHWC) 2019 must be abandoned forthwith. Rather, drawing lessons from the experiences of miseries and distress suffered by the migrant workers during lockdown, this Act must be further strengthened making it an unavoidable obligation for both the central and state governments and employers to register all migrant workers including the voluntary and individual voluntary migration, both in organised and unorganised sector occupations and also provide for their protection and welfare with a stronger regulatory and enforcement mechanism. We demand upon the Govt. to refrain from the move of repealing the Inter State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Services) Act 1979 through OSHWC Bill 2019, in the interest of fairness and propriety.

In addition, AITUC had demanded withdrawal of the home ministry order dated May 3 stating that the government will facilitate the movement only of those stranded workers who had gone to work or from work place to hometown just before lockdown but could not return to their native places/work places on account of restrictions placed on movement of persons and vehicles as part of lock down measures. AITUC has said that the MHA order once again reflected that the Government was totally out of tune from the ground realities, stating: “The workers plan for visiting families not frequently but after several months of work at a particular place. They come for seasonal work also and also when they do not get any work in villages in between the timings of sowing and harvesting .They come to towns and cities not only to work in the factories but also to work in shops, for rickshaw pulling, E- rickshaw/ auto rickshaw/tax driving, hawking, vending, work on construction projects, security services, domestic work, loading-unloading or any other odd jobs including everyday casual work for their living whatever comes their way to sustain themselves and their families behind. Even those workers who come with their spouse leave half the family behind in the villages. In this time of trauma when all work was closed for them and they want to be with their families in the native places, how can the government stop them for their right to be with their family members. This step of government reflects of some camouflaging of forcing the workers to stay back on the behest of employers’ demands. It is in a way to keep them in bondage like situations.”

AITUC has therefore demanded immediate withdrawal of this order, and has suggested that travel charges for trains and buses should not be demanded from the workers as they have already exhausted their cash in hand. There are reports, how they have taken loans to pay heavily to the bus transport operators in various states. In this deep crises situation Government should at least do this much to help them in their distress of eager to be with the families.

The central trade union body has also condemned the moves by Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat governments to suspend labour laws and workers rights for a period of 2-3 years in the lieu of boosting economic activity post-Covid lockdown. It has criticized the decision of UP government led by Mr. Yogi for bringing in an draconian ordinance titled “ Uttar Pradesh Temporary Exemption for certain labour laws ordinance 2020” under the guise of need for facilitating economic activities. With one stroke 38 laws are made defunct for 1000 days (almost three years) and the remaining are only section 5 of Payment of Wages Act 1934, Construction Workers Act 1996, Compensation Act 1923 and Bonded Labour Act 1976 which remain functional. Those laws made defunct include Industrial Dispute Act, Act on Occupational Safety and Health, Contract labour act, Migrant Labour Act, Equal Remuneration Act etc.

Similarly, AITUC has also castigated the Madhya Pradesh Government of Shivraj Chauhan which has brought drastic changes in Factories Act, Contract Act and Industrial Dispute Act in a manner where the employers will be at will to hire and fire the labour; the dispute raising will become non-starter; the contractors with no need to obtain license for supplying labour upto 49 persons; no inspection allowed without prior permissions – that itself makes it a hoax etc. All this means that the workers are to be used as bonded labour without any rights for sheer exploitation in the interest of capital without any guarantee of wages, safety and healthcare, social security, according to the central trade union body. In the same vein, Gujarat government has blatantly taken illegal decision of increasing working hours from 8 to 12 hours but no payment for extra working hours. UP and MP governments have given clean chit in regard to raising working hours as per need of the employers. (IPA Service)