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A public meeting on The Return of Class: Beyond headlines of worker’s violence in Delhi NCR was held at TEFLAS, JNU. Com. Santosh, Mazdoor Patrika, spoke on the eve of May Day 2026, discussing the historic significance of the ongoing wave of workers’ strikes in breaking the pro-corporate consensus around “development” and the political possibilities of working-class struggles. Below we reproduce a report on his public lecture.
How the wage was stolen
The neoliberal economists state that the question of labour is simply a question of supply and demand. The signals from the market–signals of price and value–are the ultimate indicators for society. The neoliberal economists in India sitting in their think tanks drafting up the Labor Codes argue that the idea of the minimum wage itself is harmful for the Indian laborer and the Indian worker.
They argue that the minimum wage itself should be set based on the principles of “demand and supply”. They argue that a worker in India may be willing to work for a measly ₹5,000 per month, which is a possibility and in fact does happen. If, in such a case, the trade unions oppose this blatant exploitation of the worker, it is actually a conspiracy to keep the toiling masses willing to work for ₹5,000 away from employment and earning.
The minimum wage as dictated by the government is not set based on vibes and dreams. It is set based on a formula as provided by the Labor Commission. The calculation is based on these predominant considerations:
The assumption is that a singular family unit consists of 3 people.
- A worker needs 2,700 Kcal per day to survive, which is multiplied by four to account for the other dependents of their family. This is the first major consideration.
- A worker is assumed to need almost 6 meters of cloth every year to clothe themselves. This is multiplied by four to account for other members of the family. This is the second major consideration.
- The miscellaneous costs such as electricity, gas, and water areconsidered as the third major consideration.
- The rent for housing (assumed to be around Rs 4,000 to 5,000 per month) is the fourth major consideration.
- 25 percent of total wages should be considered for education, entertainment, and other living expenses. This encompasses the fifth and final consideration.
Based on these factors, as inaccurate to lived ground realities as they are, the total minimum wage calculated comes out to be around ₹32,320 per month. Despite this, the neoliberal economist insists that the minimum wage should be set to whatever the esoteric forces of demand and supply dictate it to be, be it ₹12,000 ₹5,000. What they tend to forget in all these arguments is that these numbers do not exist in the abstract. The recipient of these wages is a living and breathing human being. Who is this living and breathing human they ask? It is the laborer working in the factories of Manesar and Noida.
The situation at hand
The worker in the factories rightfully has no sympathies for the economists and their limp appeals toward demand and supply. Based on their daily necessities such as food, rent, and utilities, they demanded that at the very least they should be getting 20,000 Rs per month. The struggle that has been going on has been a slap in the face of all those experts saying that class conflict and the question of labor no longer exists in India. It is an absolute denial of the neoliberal theory of markets and the economists that construct them. As the workers amass in the streets, the sacred temples of demand and supply crumble, and within one day of protesting they are able to negotiate for a wage hike of 35 percent, as minuscule as that amount might be.
These worker struggles that are happening right now are but the most recent expression of a long re-emerging tradition of worker struggle across the world.
The government had promised in November that the labor codes to be introduced on April 1st, 2026, would again mark the onset of “Acche Din.” Verbal promises included Wage Hikes, 8 hour work day and double pay on overtime.
All of which should already have been protected and enforced according to the law and constitution. Yet the 1st of April came and nothing had changed. On that day itself, the workers at the Panipat refinery started their demonstrations. On the 2nd of April, the workers in the Honda factory in Manesar joined the strike. The 3rd and 4th of April saw additional unions and workers from other factories in and around Manesar join the fray.
When on the 2nd of April, after talks with management, it was decided that the wages of the workers in the refinery would be increased from 11,000 to 16,000, it provided the motivation for workers in other factories and sectors to strike as well in hopes of seeing hikes in their own wages.
The following days saw a cascade of neighboring automobile factory workers striking as well. Starting from the 5th of April, their ranks were further bolstered by workers from the garment export factories in and around Manesar. The numbers kept rising and the strikes kept intensifying until finally, on the 8th of April, the government of Haryana acquiesced and agreed to raising the wages of all unskilled factory workers by 35 percent.
News spread fast into the neighboring state of Uttar Pradesh, especially in the city of Noida where the minimum wage was 11,000 Rs as well. They realized that they do similar work and have similar expenditures to their comrades in Manesar. In addition to this realization was the emergency situation created by the War on Iran, which put significant pressures on the workers’ already rising expenditures. The restriction in gas supply due to the war affected the worker in two major ways:
- The factory workers do not have access to the large bulk gas cylinders.The per kg cylinders they do have access to saw prices double fromnearly 200 Rs/Kg to 400 Rs/Kg. Their minute saving margins of around100 to 200 Rs per month instantly vaporized.
- Everywhere in Manesar, Noida, and the surrounding areas, the worker was working 15 to 16 hours a day without overtime pay. After their grueling shift, the worker has to stand in line for an additional 1 to 2hours just to get their gas cylinders filled. Thus both financially as well as in time outside work, the worker saw their margins completely vanish.
The worker was now facing not only the brunt of an additional 3,000 to 4,000 Rs in expenditures but 3 to 4 hours of additional time in the waiting lines as well . Seeing the wage hikes of their comrades across the state border, the workers in Noida started their own set of strikes from the 9th to the 12th of April. Starting with those working in the garment industry, workers across sectors and factories came together under a unified struggle with a demand for increased wages and reduced working hours.
The thing that struck the workers in Noida as most surprising was the lack of coverage of the situation. Located but 4 Km away from the media campus, home to the offices of the biggest news companies such as NDTV, News 18, or Aaj Tak, there was a deafening silence and a seeming lack of interest from these bodies. Only after escalation and property damage did the coverage and interviews begin. When the workers asked the reporters why they started only showing up for interviews now, they were callously told, “Now that the doors have been broken and the cars have been burnt, this story has finally become worth covering.
”To combat this lack of coverage, the workers have not only been going on strikes and protesting but have been actively documenting the process themselves. They have taken to sharing this documentation across social media and messaging groups to build a narrative that the mainstream media refused to provide. The Reels made during the strikes in Panipat served as a direct inspiration for the workers in Manesar. In turn, the videos and documentation created by the Manesar workers went on to inspire their comrades in Noida. This digital thread of solidarity allowed the movement to grow organically, as each factory or sector saw the successes and tactics of those who had struck just days before.
Redefining the labor problem as one of law and order
When looking at the case of the Maruti workers’ protest in 2012, where 500 permanent contract workers were illegally terminated, the rhetoric of the state became clear. In the lawsuit that followed, the criminal judge presiding over the case stated, “This is the era of globalization and intense competition. In such a world the nations that can move forward will be the ones which can discipline (punish) the workers and these disciplined workers must work towards the interest of the nation itself. Since in this case the workers were operating against the interest of the nation, their termination is considered to be legal.” A few months later, a case for the domestic workers was taken to the Supreme Court.
Discussions were being held for the formalization of minimum wage and formation of unions for such unorganized sectors. During deliberations on this case, the Supreme Court judge said, “The biggest road block to the progress of the nation is the trade union. If there is any single reason for the stagnant growth of India over the last 25 years, it surely must be the trade unions themselves.”
This has been the modus operandi of the state and powers that be for a while now: to treat the questions and problems of labor as those of violence and crime. This is also seen in who gets to exercise power and negotiate from the state during such strikes. The announcement on the decision on whether the reduction of the work day to 8 hours will be implemented or not is done by the DSP. Whether overtime pay will be implemented or not (again something that is guaranteed by law) is announced by the Local SP. These are responsibilities of the Labor Commission and yet it is the police force that enacts them. The entirety of the labor protest is very insidiously trying to be reframed as a law and order or criminal problem. This is something that the judiciary in the courts and executive in the police force and the state all are complicit in.
We started this conversation by stating this as the return of class. This is a period of intense state repression and oppression. Multitudes of labor leaders are being shipped off to prison as we speak. The times are indeed dire, but at the same time these protests stand in bold defiance against the ideas that the workers have no stake, that the workers have no influence, and that the workers have no politics.
The return of class consciousness through these protests shows that when the workers stand united in defiance of attempts to divide them based on identity politics, when the worker actively fights against the neoliberal order and theory that sees her as but an expendable number, within 1 day their wages increase by 35 percent. Today, the worker in the NCR region is no longer fighting only for a wage hike of 35 percent. She is fighting for self-respect and dignity, she is fighting for the 8 hour work day, and she is fighting tooth and nail for every single right that the law and the Constitution guarantees her. This is indeed a time of oppression but also of hope. It is inspiring to see how the labour movement has evolved over the past two decades organically, separated by geography yet organized within and across each other. The workers have fought against every obstacle in front of them and the fight is not over yet. The way that labour has returned and the way class consciousness has returned is commendable and we stand in solidarity with the fighting workers!
Report prepared by Com. Cleo.
