Trade union leaders on Monday described the new labour laws enacted by Parliament to be an attack on democracy.

All India Trade Union Congress national secretary Amarjeet Kaur said that forming new trade unions and holding any protests would be difficult under the new Industrial Relations Code. In 2020, the government had passed four labour codes subsuming 29 labour laws. They are yet to be implemented as the rules have not been notified.

Speaking at the release of a manual "Decoding the Labour Codes: A Handbook for Workers", Kaur said the working class plays a strong role to keep democracy alive.

“When forming a union becomes a big problem, our democracy is in danger. The workers’ rights for collective bargaining have been ignored in this law,” she said.

D. Thankappan, founder of the Centre for Workers’ Management, which prepared the manual, said the workers should be prepared for a tough battle with the government against these codes. The workers' union will hold a protest on May 20.