NEW DELHI, 9 December, 2025: India’s central trade unions under the banner of the Joint Platform of Central Trade Unions (CTUs) and Sectoral Federations/Associations, and the Samyukta Kisan Morcha are planning a countrywide strike in February 2026, against the recently promulgated labor codes, calling them ‘ant-labor codes’. The national protest action against the codes on 22 December, 2025, were a big success, says a CTU media release.
The CTU media release says, ” On 26 th November 2025, the country witnessed massive mobilisations at the district/block headquarters as well as at the workplace level. The Samyukta Kisan Morcha has also mobilised in large numbers including in villages, protesting the Seed Bill as well as the labour codes in addition to their basic demands. Other sections of the people, especially the students and youth also joined the protest in large numbers. We thank all the people for joining this struggle to save the basic rights of the people.
There is unprecedented false propaganda on the so called ‘benefits’ of the labour codes to the workers including advertisements in mass scale and paid news and articles supporting
them which shows the panic among the government administration and the ruling classes. There is total chaos prevailing in labour departments and courts.
For the first time, all the opposition parties came together demanding the repealing of the labour codes. We welcome this move and expect they will continue this support till the
codes are repealed.”
The CTU congrulated the working people for resisting the four labor codes, and massive participation in protest actions.
India implemented the four new labour codes on 21 November 2025, replacing 29 existing labour laws in what the government claims is a modernization of colonial-era regulations. Nearly all major Indian trade unions have condemned the implementation as a “deceptive fraud” against workers, with nationwide protests planned for 26 November.
The codes cover wages, industrial relations, social security, and occupational safety. They raise critical thresholds that weaken worker protections. Most concerning for workplace organization, the threshold for mandatory prior approval for layoffs has increased from 100 to 300 workers, while recognition to be the sole collective bargaining agent now requires 51 percent membership support. The codes also extend mandatory 60-day strike notice requirements from public utilities to all industrial establishments, which potentially criminalise spontaneous solidarity actions.
In November 2025, the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) publicly supported Indian unions in their protests against the Indian government’s new labour codes. The ACTU also provided past solidarity in 2020 and has a standing commitment to international union movements.
The CTU meeting, the media release says, also discussed the IndiGo fiasco which caused distress to lakhs of air travellers and said, ” We demand judicial probe, exemplary punishment of the guilty and adequate compensation to all those who are affected. The government should learn lessons from this experience and immediately stop the hasty privatisation moves especially in strategic sectors like electricity, petroleum, railways, defence, telecom and banking.”
