Contract Labour

According to the Periodic Labour Force Survey 2017–18 carried out by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), of the 92 million workers working in the formal sector - more than half of them are employed as informal workers. These workers are variously termed as contract temporary, casual or daily wage workers. Despite working for decades, they are forced to work with no security of tenure, with employers denying them the most basic employer- employee relationship rights.
 

Introduction

More than 50 years after the enactment of the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970 [‘1970 Act’], the Government is seeking to grant statutory sanction to the burgeoning contractualisation across public and private sectors. The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 [‘OSH Code’], which consolidates a number of beneficial workers legislations including the 1970 Act, practically authorizes the use of contract labour in a number of core, perennial and necessary functions.

The Policy Shift