Do you believe that by converting the contract labour mechanism into a cost-benefit tool, it resulted in a major trigger point for IR Crisis? From an IR standpoint, has excessive dependence on contract labour made organisations vulnerable to losing their overall HR purpose?
MG I would consider this as two different questions – each deserving a distinct yet connected answer.
On whether contract labour became a major IR trigger point:
Yes, unequivocally. The moment contract labour ceased to be a workforce-flexibility tool and was reengineered purely as a cost-arbitrage instrument, the seeds of IR conflict were sown – quietly but inevitably.
Originally, the model served a legitimate purpose: managing seasonal surges, specialised project needs, and peripheral activities. The Contract Labour (Regulation & Abolition) Act, 1970 itself was framed with this intent – regulated flexibility, not structured exploitation.
However, over the decades, many organisations deployed contract workers in core,...
