The protests were held at the offices of the Deputy Chief Labour Commissioner (Central) in Jabalpur, the Regional Labour Commissioner (Central) in Bhopal, and the State Labour Commissioner in Indore.
Similar demonstrations took place at labour offices and industrial centres in Bhopal, Gwalior, Indore, Jabalpur, Rewa, Satna, Guna, Ujjain, Morena, Bhind, Ratlam, Sagar, Singrauli, Anuppur, Sidhi, Chhindwara, Betul, Neemuch, Maihar, Balaghat, Mandideep, Pithampur, Dewas, and several other cities and industrial hubs, where workers jointly protested and submitted memoranda.
According to a press statement issued by the Joint Platform of Trade Unions, Madhya Pradesh, leaders including INTUC State President Shyam Sundar Yadav, AITUC State General Secretary S.S. Maurya, CITU State General Secretary Pramod Pradhan, HMS State General Secretary Naveen Litoriya, AIUTUC State General Secretary Rupesh Jain, SEWA State President Kavita Malviya, Central Employees Coordination Committee General Secretary Yashwant Purohit, MP Bank Employees Association General Secretary V.K. Sharma, Central Zone Insurance Employees Association President Ajit Ketkar, and BSNL Employees Association General Secretary B.S. Raghuvanshi strongly condemned the Central Government’s unilateral decision to repeal 29 labour laws and replace them with four labour codes without any consultation with trade unions.
The leaders alleged that these labour codes curtail workers’ rights and are designed to benefit capitalists and corporates. They accused the Modi government of prioritising the interests of big business and attempting to hand over national assets, public sector undertakings, railways, BHEL, defence establishments, and financial institutions like banks and insurance companies to private players. They further stated that the labour codes were introduced with the intent to suppress the workers’ movement opposing these policies.
Through their memorandum, the trade unions expressed hope that the Hon’ble President would uphold the constitutional principles of justice and equality, consider their demands urgently, and use constitutional authority to direct the government to repeal the four labour codes and accept their demands.
The key demands listed in the memorandum include: complete withdrawal of the labour codes; a national minimum wage of ₹26,000 per month for all workers; a minimum pension of ₹9,000 per month for all categories of workers; a halt to privatisation of public sector enterprises, government departments, banks and insurance companies; an end to outsourcing, fixed-term employment, apprenticeship and trainee systems; restoration of the old pension scheme; control over price rise; and a legal guarantee of Minimum Support Price (MSP) for farmers.
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