The implementation of the four labour codes has sparked a series of protests across India after their implementation on November 21, 2025.
Ten central trade unions alongside the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), a coalition of 40 farmer unions, and members of the All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF), submitted a joint representation to President Droupadi Murmu. In this, they requested the repeal of the four labour codes and the implementation of a national minimum wage of ₹26,000 per month.
In their memorandum to the President, the group stated that the new codes “negate our right to strike, make union registration problematic, ease de-recognition of unions, and make conciliation and adjudication cumbersome by winding up labour courts and introducing tribunals for workers, while granting registrars overriding powers to de-register unions.”
AITUC general secretary Amarjeet Kaur stated the protests were held in over 500 districts on November 26, 2025,including workers from various sectors. AIPEF Chairman Shailendra Dubey shared that lakhs of power sector workers also joined the protest against the labour codes and the Electricity Amendment Bill.
Some of the major points of contention include the increase of maximum working hours to 12 per day. While factories with 100 or more workers earlier needed the government’s permission to lay off employees, this threshold has increased to 300 employees, sparking another round of outrage.
“Why is the government trying to exclude a huge section of the workforce from the labour legislation?” Sudeep Dutta, national secretary of CITU (Centre for Indian Trade Unions), told the BBC. “Pending grievance cases for labourers are already in millions. Cases are not being registered… workers are not able to lodge their complaints, and now the government is bringing in a labour code which is trying to exclude a huge section of the workforce.”
Trade unions have argued that increasing this threshold excludes about 70% of factories, giving “employers wide discretionary powers to repress and exploit.” Protests across Delhi, Assam, and Odisha, among other places, indicate that many workers may the government to reconisder their stance on various minor and major details included in the new codes.
