This is PUDR’s position paper presented during the 33rd Ramandham Memorial meeting on 8th Sep 2018. The paper is based on some of the investigations carried by PUDR over the years related to globally intergrated industries in the region – such as automobile industry at Manesar (Haryana), consumer electronics such as LG and Vivo phones (Greater Noida), garment workers in Kapashera (Delhi); as well as local industries, such as workers in localised factories in Bawan aand also workers engaged by the government in PWD. All of these highlight a stark ground reality, one which should perhaps not shock us given its commonness, except that it does. That reality is that across sectors and industries, labour laws are either brazenly flouted or the laws themselves become the basis of weakening the strength of labour and strengthening capital. This was illustrated by focussing on three aspects workers’ condition in the globally integrated industries – (i) Contactualisation, (ii) Wages and (iii) COndition inside the factory. The paper also discussed about Labour Reform and Labout Codes, their context, history and implementation. The main spekers were Aseem Roy from National Trade Union Initiative (NTUI) and Khushiram from Maruti Workers’ Provisional Committee.
