Episodes of labour unrest reveal the poor state of industrial relations in the country

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Recent months have seen worker protests across states. Workers protested low wages and poor work conditions in an IOCL factory in Barauni, Bihar, in February. This was followed by protests in Surat, Gujarat.

More recently, workers protested in Manesar, Haryana, raising similar issues. The latest unrest was in Noida, Uttar Pradesh (UP), where workers turned out in large numbers to protest.These protests were in different industries, in both the public and private sectors, and in states with varying labour laws and industrial structures. Common to them was the fact that almost all workers were contractual; employed without formal social protection, their wages were low and work conditions poor.

Their demands were similar: an increase in minimum wages, proper working hours, payment for overtime, basic social security and workplace facilities. This unrest is not surprising. Many of the issues on which the workers protested have been in the public domain for long.

These went unnoticed by the mainstream media even as the situation worsened over the years. Data on contractualization is available for organized manufacturing in the Annual Survey of Industries (ASI). The proportion of contractual workers was under 20% of the total at the turn of the century.

By 2023, it had more than doubled to 41%. Increasing contractualization through labour contractors implies that industries are not obliged to provide workers any social security. A nexus between recruiters and contractors exists across industries, not just in the private sector but also among government and public sector enterprise recruiters.