India’s Workers Strike Back: A Radical Challenge to Corporate Power

AUGUST 4, 2025

By Abhishek Bhosale

On 9th July 2025, a massive wave of opposition swept across India as a staggering 250 million workers from both urban and rural areas participated in a nationwide strike. This historic Bharat Bandh (Strike) was organised by a coalition of ten major trade unions and was aimed at the Indian government’s controversial new labour codes. The strike saw widespread participation across a multitude of sectors, including coal, finance, petroleum, defence, textile mills and agriculture, signalling a powerful, united front against Indian government policies that are a direct assault on workers’ rights.

The New Labour Codes: A ‘Reform’ for Whom?

The root of this unrest lies in the four new labour codes introduced between 2019 and 2020 by the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The government has hailed these codes as the “biggest labour reforms” since India’s independence, claiming they will streamline labour laws and promote economic growth. However, trade unions see them as a thinly veiled attempt to dismantle decades of worker protections in favour of corporate interests.

These codes consolidate 29 existing laws into four new ones: the Code on Wages, the Industrial Relations Code, the Code on Social Security, and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code. While the government promotes them as a step towards ‘ease of doing business’, trade unions argue they were drafted without any meaningful consultation, sidelining critical forums like the Indian Labour Conference, which hasn’t convened since 2015.

A Radical Challenge to Corporate Power

The unions’ fierce opposition goes far beyond mere procedural grievances; it’s a profound rejection of a pro-corporate agenda that threatens to dismantle decades of hard-won worker protections. They argue the new codes are designed to neuter their ability to organise and strike, making it more difficult to form new unions while simultaneously simplifying the process for companies to deregister them. This is viewed as a direct assault on the fundamental principles of collective bargaining.

Furthermore, the introduction of “fixed-term employment” is seen as a deliberate mechanism to replace permanent, secure jobs with precarious contracts, effectively eroding social security and retirement benefits for a large segment of the workforce. The unions contend that these codes grant the government excessive power, allowing for changes to be made via executive orders rather than through democratic legislative processes, ultimately empowering corporations at the expense of ordinary workers.

The 17-Point Charter: A Blueprint for workers’ rights

In a bold countermove, the coalition of ten central trade unions presented a comprehensive 17-point charter of demands to the government in August last year that outlined a vision for workers’ rights and well-being in India. This blueprint for change calls for a living wage of Rs 26,000 per month with regular adjustments, the restoration of the Old Pension Scheme, and an end to the government’s push for privatisation and the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP), which they see as a massive transfer of public assets to private interests.

The charter also addresses critical socio-economic issues, including the need for a national policy for migrant workers and the creation of a Climate Resilience Fund to protect those affected by extreme weather. This broad set of demands demonstrates that the unions’ fight is not just about labour rights, but a holistic struggle for a more just society, where worker welfare, social security, and democratic accountability are prioritised over corporate greed.

A United Front

The widespread strike was organised and led by a coalition of ten prominent trade unions and federations, representing a broad spectrum of the Indian workforce. These unions, which formed a united front against the government’s new labour codes and submitted the 17-Point charter of demands to the Ministry of Labour and Employment, included the Centre of India Trade Unions (CITU), the All-India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), and the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC). Also participating were the Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS), the All India United Trade Union Centre (AIUTUC), and the Trade Union Coordination Centre (TUCC). The coalition further comprised the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), the All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU), the Labour Progressive Federation (LPF), and the United Trade Union Congress (UTUC). Together, these organisations mobilised millions of workers, demonstrating a powerful, unified resistance to the proposed legislative changes.

Farmer–Worker Unity

The strike also saw support from the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, a coalition of farmers’ unions that successfully forced the government to repeal controversial farm laws in 2021. Their solidarity with the striking workers demonstrates a powerful and growing farmer-worker alliance against the government’s perceived anti-labour and anti-farmer policies. This unity has become a significant force, showing that collective action can challenge and defeat even the most powerful political machinery.

It is worth noting that the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, a union affiliated with the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, distanced itself from the strike.

The scale and unity of the strike on 9th July 2025 sent a clear message: India’s workers and farmers will not be silenced in their fight for their rights.

Abhishek Bhosale is a Doctoral Researcher at SOAS, University of London.

Image: India farmers protest 2021. https://www.globalindiantimes.com/p/modi-blocks-farmers-from-entering Creator: Ted Eytan. Licence: Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International CC BY-SA 4.0 Deed