India - CLR

LABOUR RIGHTS INDEX 2022

Trade Union Indicator

The Labour Rights Index 2022 (LRI 2022) is a de-jure index covering 135 economies and structured around the working lifespan of a worker. In total, 46 questions or evaluation criteria are scored across 10 indicators. The overall score is calculated by taking the average of each indicator, with 100 being the highest possible score. The Index uses a rating system, ranging from “Total Lack of Decent Work” to “Decent Work”. The Labour Rights Index aims at an active contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals, by providing necessary (complementary) insights into de jure provisions on issues covered in particular by SDG8 (Decent Jobs), SDG 5 (Gender Equality), SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities) and SDG 16 (Strong Institutions). The Index is based on national labour legislation, applicable on 1 January 2022. The Index does not take into account COVID-19 related labour market measures in its scoring.

India’s overall score is 65 out of 100. The overall score for India is higher than the regional average observed across South Asia (56.33). Within the South Asian region, the highest score is observed for Nepal (72).

India has not ratified either Convention No. 87 on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise (1948) or Convention No. 98 on the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining (1949).

Labour Rights Index 2022

65/100

LRI Country Score

25/100

Trade Union Indicator

19.8 %

Trade union density rate (%)

- %

Collective bargaining coverage rate (%)

1.7

SDG indicator 8.8.2

5

ITUC Global Rights Index 2022 Ratings

Question

Answer

Score

Legal Basis

Violation

Does the law allow workers to form and join unions of their own choice?

Yes

1 §19 of Indian Constitution 1949; §2-9 & 25 of the Trade Union Act, 1926; §9A of Trade Unions Act 2001

No Violation Found

Does the law allow workers to bargain collectively with employers through their representative unions?

No

0 §15-20 of the Industrial Dispute Act 1947; Uttar Pradesh Industrial Disputes Rules, 1957; USDOS CRHRP 2021

Does the law provide for the right to strike?

No

0 §2, 22-25 of the Industrial Disputes Act 1947; §2 & 3 of Essential Services Maintenance Act 1981

Does the law prohibit employers from terminating employment contracts of striking workers?

No

0 §5 of Essential Services Maintenance Act 1981

Textual sources

A : National Law

National Labour Legislation

B : CEACR

CEACR: ILO Committee of Experts on Application of Conventions and Recommendations (latest report)

C : ITUC

ITUC: ITUC Global Rights Index 2022

D : USDOS

USDOS: US Department of States' Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2021

LRI Country Score
The Labour Rights Index has 10 indicators and 46 sub-indicators. The LRI Country score averages 10 indicators and ranges between 0 and 100. The lowest and highest scorers are Nigeria (29/100) and Belgium/Greece (96/100). https://labourrightsindex.org/

Trade Union Indicator
The trade union indicator is composed of 4 sub-indicators. Scoring is done through the binary method (0 or 1). The score ranges between 0-100.

Trade union density rate (%)
The trade union density rate conveys the number of union members who are employees as a percentage of the total number of employees in the country. For updated statistics on trade union density, please check ILOSTAT.

Collective bargaining coverage rate (%)
The collective bargaining coverage rate conveys the number of employees whose pay and/or conditions of employment are determined by one or more collective agreement(s) as a percentage of the total number of employees in the country. For updated statistics on collective bargaining coverage, please check ILOSTAT.

SDG indicator 8.8.2
SDG indicator 8.8.2 measures national compliance with fundamental labour rights (freedom of association and collective bargaining or FACB). It ranges from 0 to 10, with 0 being the best possible score (indicating higher levels of compliance with FACB rights) and 10 the worst (indicating lower levels of compliance with FACB rights). It is based on six ILO supervisory body textual sources and national legislation.
For an updated assessment on SDG indicator 8.8.2, please check ILOSTAT.

ITUC Global Rights Index 2022 Ratings
The ITUC Global Rights Index depicts the world’s worst countries for workers by rating 148 countries on a scale from 1 to 5+ on the degree of respect for workers’ rights. Violations are recorded each year from April to March. For a detailed description of ratings and methodology, please follow the link.

To find an ITUC affiliate in your country, please check the LINK:

Violations

National Labour Legislation

The law provides for the right to form and join unions and to bargain collectively, but there is no legal obligation for employers to recognize a union or engage in collective bargaining.

2. Definitions. – (1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,
(a) essential service means

(i) any postal, telegraph or telephone service, including any service connected therewith;

(ii) any railway service or any transport service for the carriage of passengers or goods by air or any other transport service for the carriage of passengers or goods by land or water with respect to which Parliament has power to make laws;

(iii) any service connected with the operation or maintenance of aerodromes, or with the operation, repair or maintenance of aircraft, or any service in the International Airports Authority of India constituted under section 3 of the International Airports Authority Act, 1971 (43 of 1971);

(iv) any service in, or in connection with the working of, any major port, including any service connected with the loading, unloading, movement or storage of goods in any such port;

(v) any service connected with the clearance of goods or passengers through the customs or with the prevention of smuggling;

(vi) any service in any establishment of, or connected with, the armed forces of the Union or in any other establishments or installations connected with defence;

(vii) any service in any establishment or undertaking dealing with the production of goods required for any purpose connected with defence;

(viii) any service in any section of any industrial undertaking pertaining to a scheduled industry on the working of which the safety of such undertaking or the employees employed therein depends.

Explanation. For the purposes of this sub-clause, the expressions industrial undertaking and scheduled industry shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them in clauses (d) and (i) of section 3 of the Industries (Development and Regulation) Act, 1951 (65 of 1951);
(ix) any service in, or in connection with, the working of any undertaking owned or controlled by the Central Government being an undertaking engaged in the purchase, procurement, storage, supply or distribution of foodgrains,

(x) any service in, or in connection with the working of, any system of public conservancy, sanitation or water supply, hospitals or dispensaries, in any Union territory, cantonment area or undertaking owned or controlled by the Central Government;

(xi) any service in connection with or in relation to banking;

(xii) any service in any establishment or undertaking dealing with the production, supply or distribution of coal, power, steel or fertilizers;

(xiii) any service in any oilfield or refinery or in any establishment or undertaking dealing with the production, supply or distribution of petroleum and petroleum products;

(xiv) any service in any mint or security press;

(xv) any service in connection with elections to Parliament or to the Legislatures of the States;

(xvi) any service in connection with the affairs of the Union, not being a service specified in any of the foregoing sub-clauses;

(xvii) any other service connected with matters with respect to which Parliament has power to make laws and which the Central Government being of opinion that strikes therein would prejudicially affect the maintenance of any public utility service, the public safety or the maintenance of supplies and services necessary for the life of the community or would result in the infliction of grave hardship on the community, may, by notification in the Official Gazette, declare to be an essential service for the purposes of this Act;

(b) strike means the cessation of work by a body of persons while employed in any essential service acting in combination or a concerted refusal or a refusal under a common understanding of any number of persons who are or have been so employed to continue to work or to accept work assigned, and includes

(i) refusal to work overtime where such work is necessary for the maintenance of any essential service;

(ii) any other conduct which is likely to result in, or results in, cessation or substantial retardation of work in any essential service;

(c) words and expressions used in sections 8 and 9 and not defined, but defined in the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (14 of 1947), shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them in that Act.

(2) Every notification issued under sub-clause (xvii) of clause (a) of sub-section (1) shall be laid before each House of Parliament immediately after it is made if it is in session and on the first day of the commencement of the next session of the House if it is not in session, and shall cease to operate at the expiration of forty days from the date of its being so laid or from the re-assembly of Parliament, as the case may be, unless before the expiration of that period a resolution approving the issue of the notification is passed by both Houses of Parliament.
Explanation. Where the Houses of Parliament are summoned to re-assemble on different dates, the period of forty days shall be reckoned from the later of those dates.
(3) Any reference in this Act to any law which is not in force in any area and to any authority under such law shall, in relation to that area, be construed as a reference to the corresponding law in force in that area and to the corresponding authority under such corresponding law.
3. Power to prohibit strikes in certain employments. – (1) If the Central Government is satisfied that in the public interest it is necessary or expedient so to do, it may, by general or special Order, prohibit strikes in any essential service specified in the Order.
(2) An Order made under sub-section (1) shall be published in such manner as the Central Government considers best calculated to bring it to the notice of the persons affected by the Order.
(3) An Order made under sub-section (1) shall be in force for six months only, but the Central Government may, by a like Order, extend it for any period not exceeding six months if it is satisfied that in the public interest it is necessary or expedient so to do.
(4) Upon the issue of an Order under sub-section (1),
(a) no person employed in any essential service to which the Order relates shall go or remain or strike;

(b) any strike declared or commenced whether before or after the issue of the Order, by persons employed in any such service shall be illegal.