The Maharashtra state government has given its nod to the rules formed under the new labour codes passed by the central government over two years ago. Some of the key aspects of the new rules include: workers need to provide a notice for a strike two months in advance as against just 14 days currently; organisations with less than 300 workers can fire employees and shut down units without the need for a government approval; and employers can hire employees for a limited period of time.
The rules also say that if a trade union is to claim as the sole body for the workers of the organisation, it needs to have over 51% of the workers registered with it. In the absence of such a union, all worker bodies can be part of the negotiating council. The state government has proposed to subsume 29 existing labour laws. After the central government formulated the labour codes in September 2020, states were asked to frame their own rules.
