INDIAN communists have decried “a grave assault on the working class” as labour laws pushed through parliament by the Narendra Modi government attack the right to strike.

Three new “codes” applying to industrial relations, social security and health and safety at work remove job security while imposing “a virtual prohibition on the right to strike,” Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) website People’s Democracy points out.

The code states that employers must be given 60 days’ strike notice (elsewhere it states 14), ban strikes during “conciliation” processes that automatically begin when notice is given, as well as within seven days of the conclusion of “conciliation” processes, as well as during “adjudication” proceedings of up to three months.