"Why trade unions are pushing back against India's proposed Industrial Relations Code", 7 January 2020

... While the government says the [proposed Industrial Relations Code] ... will simplify old and complex labour regulations, improve the business environment and spur employment, unions call the related bill “anti-worker” for allowing employers to hire and fire workers more easily, arguing that it has no safeguards for workers, makes it harder for workers to negotiate better terms and wages with employers, and makes strike actions more difficult.

The... Bill is part of wider government efforts to streamline... existing and overlapping labour laws by creating four labour codes – each on wages, industrial relations, social security and occupational safety, health and working conditions...

... [G]eneral secretary of the All India Trade Union Congress [said] “It attacks collective bargaining by making trade union leaders vulnerable to punishments and attacks existing labour legislations we have for worker protection.”...

The Code on Wages... could have consequences for the lives and livelihoods of millions of India’s migrant workers... Trade unions are demanding that codification be stopped immediately for at least the three codes that are yet to be passed and that there should be wider consultations...

Currently... [there are] more than 100 state labour laws. Most companies find it impossible to follow this myriad of laws and find ways to subvert them...