CHENNAI: The CPM, CPI, VCK and CPI(ML) Liberation on Sunday condemned the Union government's move to implement the four labour codes from November 21, calling it a major assault on workers' rights and a setback to India's labour movement. In a joint statement, CPM state secretary P Shanmugam, CPI state secretary M Veerapandian, VCK president Thol Thirumavalavan and CPI(ML) Liberation state secretary Pazha Asaithambi urged workers and the public to join statewide protests on December 8 demanding that the codes be withdrawn.
The parties said the Union government had replaced 29 labour laws with the new codes, which they described as a corporate-driven initiative aligned with the Hindutva agenda. Such reforms, they argued, would erode hard-won rights secured through more than a century of labour struggles. The Codes on Wages, Industrial Relations, Occupational Safety and Social Security, they said, raised concerns over wage protection, job security and social welfare. They criticised the government for pushing the laws through during the Covid-19 lockdown, calling it an undemocratic attempt to advance corporate interests during a period of public distress.
The statement said the codes gave employers sweeping powers. Increasing the threshold for prior government permission to close establishments from 100 workers to 300 would leave most workers outside legal protections, they said. The redefinition of worker categories would further weaken safeguards. The Centre's claim that unorganised workers would benefit was "baseless", they added.
Fixed-term employment, they said, risked replacing permanent jobs and expanding insecure work. Weak social security provisions and reduced government oversight would worsen exploitation. The groups warned that trade union rights, including the right to organise and strike, were under threat.
The parties argued that the focus on "investor confidence" only served corporate profit, citing the rise in dollar billionaires from 70 in 2014 to 358 in 2025, even as joblessness grew. With nearly 11 crore migrant workers undertaking long journeys in search of work, they said inequality had deepened.
They noted that Tamil Nadu, Kerala and other non-BJP-ruled states had yet to frame rules for the codes and accused the Centre of sidelining them, undermining federal principles. The parties called for mass participation in the December 8 demonstrations across district headquarters to oppose the labour codes and defend workers' rights.