Development of Labour Laws In India
- Industrial Employment Act 1946: Employers in industrial establishments are required by this Act to clearly define the terms of employment and submit drought standing orders to the certifying Authority for certification. By establishing mechanisms and procedures for the investigation and resolution of workplace disputes through conciliation, arbitration, and adjudication as specified by statute, the Industrial Disputes Act seeks to ensure industrial peace and concord.
- Industrial Disputes Act 1947: It is India’s main law guiding how disputes are resolved. It was passed to make provisions for the investigation and resolution of labor disputes, to stop unlawful strikes and lockouts, and to give workers relief during layoffs, following retrenchment, or after being wrongfully fired. It covered the entirety of India and governed Indian labor law with regard to trade unions and individual workers employed in any industry on the Indian mainland.
- Factories Act, 1948: It is an Act that amends and codifies the laws governing factory labor. The Act’s primary goals are to ensure sufficient safety precautions, advance the health and well-being of factory workers, and limit the haphazard expansion of industries.
- Minimum wage Act, 1948: The minimum wages that must be provided to skilled and unskilled laborers are established by an Act of Parliament pertaining to Indian labor law. It is introduced to ensure that all workers receive a living wage in the public interest, to establish the employees’ daily work schedules, to stop employers from abusing their employees, and to guarantee the laborers’ ability to maintain a respectable standard of living.
- Maternity benefit act, 1961: The Act safeguards women’s employment during pregnancy and grants them the right to a “maternity benefit,” or fully paid leave from work, to care for their unborn child. The Act controls how long women can work in specific places before and after giving birth and offers maternity and other benefits.
Movement of the Working Class in India
In the nineteenth century, India saw the emergence of the contemporary working class. This change resulted from the construction of contemporary factories, railroads, dockyards, and other types of buildings and roadways. In terms of relatively modern labor organization and a comparatively free labor market, it was a modern working class. This rule had a few significant exceptions. The plantation workers, who also created items for their capitalist bosses and sold them on foreign markets, were hired and forced to work in oppressive conditions. In truth, the bulk of workers in colonial India did not have as free of restrictions on hiring and working hours as they did in some other nations with more advanced capitalist systems. The working class movement saw effects from this scenario as it evolved over time. Along with the less developed economy, colonialism also had an impact on the labor movement. In India, the labor movement prioritized worker care over promoting workers’ rights. Despite being well-organized, they weren’t present throughout all of India. Most of their concerns and demands were about how women and young employees could support themselves. The Indian labor movement was led by and for the workers, not by the workers themselves.
Silent protests, passive resistance, individual protests and strikes, more organized welfare activities, as well as larger protests and strikes that reach the level of general strikes, are all included in its scope. There are numerous variations of worker responses to the industrial system. These reactions might be intended to improve living and working circumstances inside the industrial system, but they might also be directly in opposition to the industrial system. Thus, labor activism can take numerous forms, from the small-scale battles of the workforce to broad-scale strikes that affect an entire industry or a number of industries. It covers both the labor movements and actions that take place within the capitalist system and those that resist it.