'Deeply disturbing': Unions slam SC dismissal of petition seeking minimum wages for domestic workers

New Delhi: Ten Opposition-backed Central Trade Unions on Saturday objected to the Supreme Court dismissal of a petition seeking minimum wages for domestic workers, calling it "deeply disturbing", even as it asked Chief Justice of India Suryakant to withdraw his remarks that trade unionism is largely responsible for hurting India’s industrial growth.

A jointed statement by INTUC, AITUC, HMS, CITU, AIUTUC, TUCC, SEWA, AICCTU, LPF and UTUC said such remarks reflect a "class bias" in judicial reasoning, "undermine" the constitutional vision of a welfare state, and are "contrary" to the principles of social justice, equality, and dignity of labour enshrined in the Constitution.

The statement came against the backdrop of the Supreme Court dismissing a petition by ‘Penn Thozhilalargal Sangam’ seeking minimum wages for domestic workers with the CJI making comments against trade unionism. 

“The CTUs hereby reiterate in unequivocal terms that targeting trade unions while remaining silent on policy-driven exploitation risks lending legitimacy to an ongoing class offensive against labour,” it said.

It said the CJI’s remarks were "totally unwarranted and not based on facts" while it is a "well known fact" that the number of man days lost are not due to workers’ strikes and agitations "but due to corporate mismanagement and irregularities".

The statement said domestic workers constantly face wage theft, excessive working hours, arbitrary termination and verbal abuse remain "outside the scope of any forms of labour protection", despite their central role in sustaining urban and semi urban households and care economies.

It said trade unions have been asking the government to ratify the ILO Convention 189 that recognises domestic work and for extending decent wages for domestic workers, which India has signed. It warned that non recognition of domestic work as a scheduled employment amounts to "forced labour, as India is a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

"...the unwary remarks border on delegitimising trade unions, weakening collective bargaining, and echoing narratives historically used to dilute labour rights and suppress workers’ struggles. Trade unions are never impediments to economic development. They are democratic institutions…and are central to protecting workers’ livelihoods, dignity, and rights," it said. 

"Contrary to the Supreme Court’s statement, it is the policy driven neo-liberalism and corporatism that is responsible for the industrial stagnation...what is expected of a responsible judiciary of a welfare state is to pull up the government for its pro-corporate policies and hold them accountable for the deepening inequality, poverty, hunger and squalor. The Supreme Court has given legitimacy to brazen anti-worker policies," it said.

It also said the judicial remarks assume “grave significance” at a time when the government is intensifying its assault on workers’ rights through anti-worker legislations, such as Labour Codes and Shram Shakti Niti in the name of ease of doing business, dilution of MGNREGA and bringing in Electricity Amendment Bill 2025 and Seed Bill.

The trade unions warned that workers and peasants will express their united opposition to these policies on the day of the nationwide General Strike on February 12.