On January 20, 2026, government employees in Gurgaon under the Sarv Karmchari Sangh Haryana protested outside the deputy commissioner's office and submitted a notice for a nationwide strike on February 12. The report says demands included opposing privatisation, ending contract-based employment systems in departments, regularisation of temporary employees, pay parity, restoration of the old pension scheme, filling vacancies through permanent recruitment, cashless medical facilities, and risk allowance. It also references union leaders citing court directions and arguing for a comprehensive policy for temporary workers who have served long periods.
The emotional story is the rage of being structurally temporary. Contract workers are not just underpaid; they are kept in a state of permanent uncertainty that poisons loyalty. The protest becomes a public version of what many private sector HR teams see quietly: people who do essential work but feel excluded from dignity mechanisms like pension security, predictable progression, and healthcare protections. When that exclusion lasts long enough, the workforce stops asking politely and starts demanding visibility. That is when organisations are shocked - not because the demand is new, but because the patience ended.
From a compliance and business perspective, the contract system becomes a risk multiplier when it is used as a long-term staffing model rather than a limited procurement solution. It creates exposure on equal pay claims, continuity of service disputes, benefits obligations, and operational fragility when large groups coordinate action. The HR control is to stop treating contract labour as "outside HR": build workforce classification governance, map legal obligations per category, audit vendors, and create a pathway out of perpetual temporariness where work is truly perennial. If your staffing model depends on insecurity, you have built a strike into your future.
@TOI
What happens to "culture" when a large share of the workforce is designed to be disposable?
If contract work is essential to your business, what obligation do you still owe beyond the bare legal minimum?
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7The emotional story is the rage of being structurally temporary. Contract workers are not just underpaid; they are kept in a state of permanent uncertainty that poisons loyalty. The protest becomes a public version of what many private sector HR teams see quietly: people who do essential work but feel excluded from dignity mechanisms like pension security, predictable progression, and healthcare protections. When that exclusion lasts long enough, the workforce stops asking politely and starts demanding visibility. That is when organisations are shocked - not because the demand is new, but because the patience ended.
From a compliance and business perspective, the contract system becomes a risk multiplier when it is used as a long-term staffing model rather than a limited procurement solution. It creates exposure on equal pay claims, continuity of service disputes, benefits obligations, and operational fragility when large groups coordinate action. The HR control is to stop treating contract labour as "outside HR": build workforce classification governance, map legal obligations per category, audit vendors, and create a pathway out of perpetual temporariness where work is truly perennial. If your staffing model depends on insecurity, you have built a strike into your future.
@TOI
What happens to "culture" when a large share of the workforce is designed to be disposable?
If contract work is essential to your business, what obligation do you still owe beyond the bare legal minimum?
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06b-Form VI-B (Notice of Commencement of Contract Work).pdf
EMPLOYEE CONTRACT.docx