'Anti-worker, anti-employee': JNUTA joins nationwide strike over new labour codes

The Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers’ Association (JNUTA) on Friday expressed solidarity with the nationwide strike organised by central trade unions against the Union government’s four new Labour Codes. The association said the new laws, which came into effect from November 21, are ‘anti-worker’ and strengthen employers at the cost of workers’ rights.

The teachers’ association criticised the government for implementing the codes without convening the Indian Labour Conference, which is the main tripartite forum for consultations between the government, employers and workers for the past ten years.

“The claim of aligning labour laws with “modern global trends” is merely a way to give employers more flexibility while overlooking the structural inequalities between employers and workers,” the JNUTA said.

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Such policies have negative impact on education sector: JNUTA

Similar global trends have led to wage stagnation despite rising productivity, and a declining share of workers’ wages in national income, it added. In India, even organised-sector jobs are increasingly becoming information, the association stated.

“Such policies negatively impact the education sector. Teachers in public institutions are employees too, and have increasingly seen their service conditions changed in ways that restrict their rights, freedoms and ability to organise,” the JNUTA said.

“The JNUTA understands that the stated objective of aligning labour laws with modern global trends is an euphemism for strengthening the bargaining position of employers by affording them greater flexibility, and ignoring the fundamental structural inequality that characterizes employer-employee relationships,” the association added.