INTRODUCTION:
The International Labor Organization (ILO) is devoted to promoting social justice and internationally recognized human and labour rights, pursuing its founding mission that labour peace is essential to prosperity. Today, the ILO helps advance the creation of decent work and the economic and working conditions that give working people and business people a stake in lasting peace, prosperity and progress. The ILO has four strategic objectives
Promote and realize standards and fundamental principles and rights at work.
Create greater opportunities for women and men to decent employment and income.
Enhance the coverage and effectiveness of social protection for all.
Strengthen tripartism and social dialogue.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) has advocated to employ social dialogue as one of the four pillars for drafting policy responses during the COVID-19 crisis. The ILO defines social dialogue to include all types of negotiation, consultation, or simply the exchange of information between or among representatives of governments, employers, and workers, on issues of common interest relating to economic and social policy.
Apart from ILO, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights also protect labour right at global level.
"Dignity of labour has to be our national duty, it has to be a part of our nature."The workers and labourers are that part of our society that helps in implementing the great ideas born out of the minds of geniuses. We tend to put such geniuses on a pedestal and reward them with status and money. The workers who work behind the scenes are often forgotten about. Their rights, dignity, the standard of living, and even a better work environment, which are fundamental for a human being to survive, are often ignored. After Independence till date, the labour laws in India have revolved around the rights and benefits for the workers while excluding the managerial level employees. Yet after almost 75 years, the workers still face exploitation at the hands of the employers. The Government with bona fide intentions has tried to cover most of the demands of the workers, all these years, while preparing and drafting many labour laws but still at ground level, their minimal implementation is a matter of concern. The new labour codes have tried to cover most aspects but still, challenges prevail. Also, their implementation is to be seen, since the Centre and the states have to work together, framing rules in conformity and implementing the codes in their true spirit. In this new era, new concepts have come around such as the gig economy, platform workers, freelancers, etc. In such cases, there is no contract with the employer and the traditional employer-employee relationship is bypassed making it impossible for the workers to get any remedy, in the case of a dispute or exploitation, against the employer. On the other hand, the invisible labour and gender inequality still prevail which is a matter of concern since it affects the growth of our economy and, most importantly, affects the lives of women who suffer and are forced to live undignified lives. The need of the hour is to look after the rights of the inter-state migrant labourers, who are affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of them lost their livelihoods, their homes and are forced to move back to their villages since they have no other option. The concept of labour welfare is a broad concept. It connotes a condition of well-being, happiness, satisfaction, conservation and development of human resources. Labour welfare activities arose in colonial India in reply to the need for cheap labours. The British government passed legislations which led to the development of the concept of labour welfare in colonial India. The Fatal Accidents Act of 1853 aimed at providing compensation to the families of workmen who lost their lives as a result of an ‘‘actionable wrong.
“Labour” as a subject is in the Concurrent List of the Constitution of India and under the Codes, the power to make rules is vested with the Central Government as well as the State Governments as appropriate Government.
Constitution of India is the base for all laws in our country. The labor laws are also made according to the constitution and any violation of constitutional laws result in the abolition of that particular law. The Directive Principles of the State policy play a major role in the making of new labor laws in India. Fundamental Rights (Part-III) and Directive Principles of State Policy (Part- IV) of the Constitution of India contains rights relating to labour.
Part- III: Fundamental Rights (Constitution of India)
Article 19 (1) (c): Right to form associations or unions
Article 23: Prohibition of traffic in human beings and forced labour
Article 24: Prohibition of employment of children in factories etc.
Part- IV: Directive Principles of State Policy (Constitution of India)
Article 39
Right to an adequate means of livelihood [Article 39 (a)].
Equal pay for equal work [Article 39 (d)].
Health and Strength of Workers [Article 39 (e)].
Children develop in a healthy manner [Article 39 (f)].
Article 41: Right to work, to education and to public assistance in cases of unemployment, old age, sickness, disablement and undeserved want.
Article 42: Just and humane conditions of work and maternity relief.
Article 43: Living wages for workers.
Article 43-A: Participation of workers in management of industries.
Workers rights are not only a national importance; it should also be protected globally.
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH WORK:
Following are the aims and objectives for the purpose of this research work:-
To know the policy of ILO for enhancement of social security rights in organised and unorganized sectors.
To examine relevant aspects of labour standards in order to improve the living and the working conditions of workers.
To analyze the existing labour legislation on social security (such as Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 and the Code on Social Security, 2020) for workers in India.
To highlight the impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on social security rights of workers.
To identify and address the loopholes in existing labour legislation on social security for workers in India.
To suggest measures in order to protect the social security rights of workers.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS:
The Researcher has keep in his mind the following questions to carry out the research work:
What was the history of concept of social security in labour legislation?
What are the criteria of social security rights of workers, as describe in ILO Conventions?
What are the loopholes in existing labour legislation on social security (such as Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 and the Code on Social Security, 2020) for workers in India?
Whether and what extent International normative and institutional framework are fragmented on social security rights of workers?
Whether and what extent existing Indian labour legislation are sufficient to implement the social security rights of workers?
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:
The present research study is mainly a doctrinal. Keeping this in view, researcher utilized the conventional method of using library consisting of various resources like books, journals, articles, writings of the jurists and e-journals. The researcher has also referred different reports of the government and non government agencies.
LITERATURE REVIEW:
For the study of present research work, Researcher has reviewed the literature by referring various authoritative texts at international and national level and Researcher also referred relevant research articles published in various journals. Some of them are as follows:-
1) Akshay Luthra and Akshita Singh, “Emerging Challenges in Labour Laws” Manupatra (Jan 5, 2022).
In this article, the author had discuss the new labour codes and their issues; the challenges faced by the unorganized, gig and platform workers; the prevailing invisible labour and the gender inequalities; the conditions of the inter-state migrant workers and the implication of COVID-19 on their lives and, finally, concluding with the challenges which the current labour laws will face in the future. The author also said that the need of the hour is to look after the rights of the inter-state migrant labourers, who are affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of them lost their livelihoods, their homes and are forced to move back to their villages since they have no other option.
2) Rajendra Prasad Pandey, “Globalization and Legal Protection of Labour in India” The Indian Journal of Political Science, Vol. 71, No. 1 (Jan-March, 2010), pp. 133-144.
In this article, the author had talked about the Globalization and Legal Protection of labour in India. He said that the gradual consolidation of the process of globalization in India appears to have impacted upon the life of labourers in such a way that they seem poised to lose more than they might gain. The most significant dent which the process of globalization seems to have made on the life and work of labourers happens to be the systematic erosion of the legal protection available to labourers to save them from the vagaries of their profit-maximizing employers. Apparently, such a situation is in total contrast to the situation when the lawmakers of the country, over the years, enacted a number of labour legislations aimed at protecting and promoting the cause of labourers. This paper is attempt to analyze the system of legal protection of labour in India and the potential dangers it faces in the wake of the process of globalization.
3) Simon Deakin and Antara Haldar, “How Should India Reform Its Labour Laws?” Economic and Political Weekly Vol. 50, No. 12 (March 21, 2015) pp. 48-55.
In this article, the author had tries to put focus on the current policy debate around the reform of labour laws in India, which has been stimulated in part by the success of the "Gujarat model of economic development." Gujarat's deregulatory reforms have included changes to the legal regime governing employment terminations, which could form a basis for a change in national-level labour laws. Evidence linking labour law deregulation to growth, however, is weak, whether the focus is on India or the experience of other countries. Building labour market institutions is a long-term process which requires investment in state capacity for the management of risks associated with the transition to a formal economy.
4) Alston, Philip and James Heenan, “Shrinking the International Labor Code: An Unintended Consequence of the 1998 ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work?” International Law and Politics, no.36 (2004).
In this article, the author had talked about the 1998 ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and effect of globalization on labour conditions. The World Commission on the Social Dimensions of Globalization presented its final report in 2004. In addressing the central issue of what future, if any, international labor standards have in an era of competitive globalization, the Commission focuses heavily on the 1998 Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. The authors characterize that Declaration as part of an effort to replace the broader labor rights agenda with a narrow focus on a much more limited corpus of four core labor standards and to move towards an approach that is fundamentally promotional, rather than grounded in firm legal obligations and involving targeted institutional responses to violations of labor rights. They consider three ways in which recent developments undermine the traditional approach: (i) the move from a uniform definition of standards to an ad hoc system; (ii) the privileging of a core set of largely procedural and essentially civil and political labor rights, to the exclusion of vital social rights; and (iii) the use of determinedly soft promotional techniques of implementation. The authors conclude that the World Commission approach reinforces these trends and argue that urgent remedial steps will need to be taken if the ILO is to continue to defend labor rights in the years ahead.
5) Vidya Kumar, “Rethinking the Convergence of Human Rights and Labour Rights in International Law: Depoliticisation and Excess,” Law in Transition: Human Rights, Development and Transitional Justice, eds. Ruth Buchanan and Peer Zumbansen, (Hart Publishing: 2014).
The author had said that the Law has become the vehicle by which countries in the 'developing world', including post-conflict states or states undergoing constitutional transformation, must steer the course of social and economic, legal and political change. Legal mechanisms, in particular, the instruments as well as concepts of human rights, play an increasingly central role in the discourses and practices of both development and transitional justice. These developments can be seen as part of a tendency towards convergence within the wider set of discourses and practices in global governance. While this process of convergence of formerly distinct normative and conceptual fields of theory and practice has been both celebrated and critiqued at the level of theory, the present collection provides, through a series of studies drawn from a variety of contexts in which human rights advocacy and transitional justice initiatives are colliding with development projects, programmes and objectives, a more nuanced and critical account of contemporary developments. The book includes essays by many of the leading experts writing at the intersection of development, rights and transitional justice studies. Notwithstanding the theoretical and practical challenges presented by the complex interaction of these fields, the premise of the book is that it is only through engagement and dialogue among hitherto distinct fields of scholarship and practice that a better understanding of the institutional and normative issues arising in contemporary law and development and transitional justice contexts will be possible.
TENTATIVE CHAPTERIZATION:
The study of “Rights of Workers and the Code on Social Security, 2020: An Analysis” has been divided into six chapters including Introduction and Conclusion which are as follows:
Introduction
Evolution of Concept of Social Security in Labour Legislation
International and National Perspectives on Social Security for Welfare of the Workers
Rights of Workers under the Code on Social Security, 2020 and its Loopholes
Relevance of Social Security in Labour Legislation
Conclusion and Suggestions
BIBLIOGRAPHY
PRIMARY SOURCES
LEGAL TEXTS REFERRED:
Government of India, Economic Survey, Ministry of Finance, New Delhi, 2006 and 2009.
ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (1998 and amended in 2022).
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966.
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 1966.
Labour Bureau, India Labour Year Book, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India, New Delhi, 2004.
N. Bose, Indian Labour Code, Eastern Law House, Calcutta, (1950).
Preamble of the ILO, available at: http://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=1000:62:0::NO:62:P62_LIST_ENTRIE_ID:2453907:NO
The Code on Social Security, 2020 (No. 36 of 2020).
The Constitution of India, 1950.
The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 (No. 37 of 2020).
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948.
CASE LAWS:
Amita v. Union of India (2005) 13 SCC 721.
Badrinath v. Govt. of T.N. (2000) 8 SCC 395.
Bandhua Mukti Morcha v. Union of India, AIR 1984 SC 802.
Delhi Transport Corporation v. D.T.C. Mazdoor Congress, AIR 1991 SC 101.
Gujarat Steel Tubes v. Sabha, AIR 1980 SC 1896.
Hindustan Tin Works v. Employers, AIR 1979 SC 75.
Jalan Trading v. Aney, AIR 1979 SC 233.
Manohar Lal v. State of Punjab, AIR 1961 SC 418.
Marathwada Gramin Bank Karmchari Sangthan v. Management of Gramin Bank (2011) 9 SCC 620.
Olga Tellis v. Bombay Municipal Corporation, AIR 1986 SC 180.
People Union for Democratic Rights v. Union of India, AIR 1982 SC 1473.
Randhir Singh v. Union of India, AIR 1982 SC 879.
Vishakha v. State of Rajasthan, AIR 1997 SC 3011.
SECONDARY SOURCES
BOOKS REFERRED:
A.M. Sharma, Aspects of Labour Welfare & Social Security (Himalaya Publishing House, New Delhi, 13th edn., 2015).
Alston, Philip et.al. (eds.), Labour Rights as Human Rights, P. Alston et al. ed., (Oxford University Press, 2005).
Dr. J. Mahalakshmi, Labour Law-I & II (The Tamil Nadu Dr. Ambedkar Law University, Chennai).
G. Davidov and B. Langille, The Idea of Labour Law (Oxford University Press, 2011).
H.L. Kumar, Labour and Industrial Laws, (Vol. I & II) (Universal Laws Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd., Delhi., 11th edn. 2020).
S.C. Srivastava, Industrial Relations and Labour Laws (Vikas Publishing House, Delhi, 6th edn., 2012).
Jeet Singh Mann, Labour Law Reforms 2021 (Centre for Transparency and Accountability in Governance, National Law University, Delhi).
Kamala Sankaran, Freedom of Association in India and International Labour Standard (Lexis Nexis Butterworths, Wadhwa, 2009).
Labour Laws and Practice (Module 3), (The Institute of Company Secretaries of India, New Delhi).
N.D. Kapoor, Handbook of Industrial Law (Sultan Chand & Sons, New Delhi, 2011).
Sharit K. Bhowmik, Industry, Labour and Society (Orient Blackswan, New Delhi, 2012).
ARTICLES REFERRED:
Akshay Luthra and Akshita Singh, “Emerging Challenges in Labour Laws” Manupatra (Jan 5, 2022).
Alston, Philip and James Heenan, “Shrinking the International Labor Code: An Unintended Consequence of the 1998 ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work?” International Law and Politics, no.36 (2004).
Dr. W.N. Salve, “Labour Rights and Labour Standards for Migrant Labour in India.
“ILO Monitor: COVID-19 and the World of Work”, International Labour Organization, 2nd edition (7 April, 2020).
In this Critical Time of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Epidemic, the Ministry of Labour and Employment Advises All Public and Private Employers to Support Their Employees and Workers,” Ministry of Labour and Employment (2020).
J.S. Sodhi, “Labour Law Reform in India” Indian Journal of Industrial Relations Vol. 50, No.1, Special Issue on Labour Law Reforms in India (July, 2014), pp. 100-117.
Jacob, Nidhi, Utsav H Gagwani and Shreya Khaitan, “India’s COVID19 Financial Package: Rehashed Existing Programmes, Little New Spending,” Indiaspend, (27 March, 2020).
K R Shyam Sundar and Rahul Suresh Supkal, “Changes to Labour Laws by State Governments will Lead to Anarchy in the Labour Market” Economic and Political Weekly (Engage) Vol. 55, Issue No. 23, 06 June, 2020.
Kumar, Vidya, “Rethinking the Convergence of Human Rights and Labour Rights in International Law: Depoliticisation and Excess,” Law in Transition: Human Rights, Development and Transitional Justice, eds. Ruth Buchanan and Peer Zumbansen, (Hart Publishing: 2014).
Rajendra Prasad Pandey, “Globalization and Legal Protection of Labour in India” The Indian Journal of Political Science Vol. 71, No. 1 (Jan-Mar, 2010), pp. 133-144.
Rina Agarwala, “Using Legal Empowerment for Labour Rights in India” The Journal of Development Studies Vol.55, No. 3., (2019), pp. 401-419.
S.I.A. Muhammed Yasir, “Labour Legislation in India- A Historical Study” Indian Journal of Applied Research Vol. 6, Issue 4, Special Issue April-2016, pp. 34-36.
Simson Deakin and Antara Haldar, “How Should India Reform Its Labour and Laws?” Economic and Political Weekly Vol. 50, No. 12 (March 21, 2015), pp. 48-55.
REPORTS REFERRED:
Annual Report 2020-2021, Ministry of Labour and Employment.
Annual Report 2021-2022, Ministry of Labour and Employment.
National Labour Commission, 1st Report on Labour Problems, 1929.
National Labour Commission, 2nd Report on Labour Problems, 2002.
National Statistical Office (NSO) Survey Report on invisiblization of female labour as unpaid caregivers (January to December, 2019).
Periodic Labour Force Survey Report, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (2018- 19) (June 2020).
Report of the Royal Commission on Labour in India, Government of India, 1931, Central publication branch, Calcutta.
WEBSITES REFERRED:
https://articles.manupatra.com/article-details/Emerging-Challenges-in-Labour-Laws
https://labour.gov.in/
https://labour.gov.in/labour-codes
https://labour.gov.in/initiatives-central-government
https://labour.gov.in/annual-reports
https://labour.gov.in/sites/default/files/Central_Government_Update.pdf
https://prsindia.org/billtrack/overview-of-labour-law-reforms
https://www.ilo.org/legacy/english/protection/travail/pdf/rdwpaper_pl1a.pdf
https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@ed_dialogue/@actrav/documents/publication/wcms_111442.pdf
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272300948_The_Evolution_of_Labour_Law_in India_An_Overview_and_Commentary_on_Regulatory_Objectives_and_Development
https://nludelhi.ac.in/download/Labour%20Law%20Reforms%20Book%20NLU%20Delhi%202021.pdf
https://www.icsi.edu/media/webmodules/Labour_Laws&_Practice.pdf
https://www.ilo.org/legacy/english/protection/travail/pdf/rdwpaper22a.pdf
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/miscellaneous/nsos-time-use-survey-report-shows-invisiblization-of-female-labour-as-unpaid-caregivers/time-use-survey/slideshow/78428894.cms
https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@dgreports/@dcomm/documents/briefingnote/wcms_7408 77.pdf
https://www.indiaspend.com/indias-covid19-financial-package-rehashed-existing-programmes-little-ne w-spending/