Underlying their obstructionism is the belief that both are inimical to labour. The government s feeble attempts to reform laws on contract labour and layoffs are also seen as anti-labour. What the government needs to do is explain the paradox on why freedom to fire labour is actually an employment-generating move. To put vested interests on the defensive, the government needs to have its answers ready on why it is espousing the cause of globalisation, privatisation and labour law changes, and how it is going to handle the fallout. Let s see the logic of each one of them, and address the issues of concern to labour.
Labour sees free imports as threatening jobs at home.
This fear needs to be acknowledged as real. However, free trade cuts both ways. As a country with cheap labour, Indian labour has more to benefit than lose- if one were to look at the macro picture. Western labour has more to lose from the shift of manpower-intensive service jobs to India and other third world nations. Over the next few years, companies running call centres, back offices, medical and legal transcription services and so on will migrate jobs from the west to India.