While the world livestreams the US-Israeli bombardment of energy establishments in West Asia, something interesting is happening in some of the top energy production zones in India. February and March 2026 saw major protests at units owned or operated by Adani Enterprises, Reliance Industries, Tata Power, Jindal Steel, Aditya Birla Group companies, construction giant Larsen & Toubro and Vedanta Group holdings, alongside major public sector undertakings (PSUs) such as Indian Oil, NTPC (formerly National Thermal Power Corporation), Western Coalfields and Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL).The largest protests among these took place at the Indian Oil integrated refinery in Haryana’s Panipat. The protest saw over 30,000 people stop work for six days after two workers died on-site. One could see a sea of yellow helmets flowing out of most such factories where protests took place. A report launched by Migrant Workers Solidarity Network documents the ongoing wave of labour actions in India’s premier industrial hubs. From our interactions with contract workers, most of whom are interstate migrants, as well as social media reports, we could count at least 28 major industrial actions since January.These industrial actions included sit-ins, gate protests, hunger strikes and rallies and covered sectors such as thermal power, petrochemicals, construction and textiles. Across states and industrial sectors, common demands include enforcing an eight hour workday, double overtime payment after eight hours and regular disbursal of wages by the seventh of each month. Additionally, workers have fought for wage hikes in line with state-backed minimum wages, social security (Employees’ State Insurance and Provident Fund) coverage and permanent employment in roles of a permanent nature, in line with various judicial precedents. Many incidents were sparked by months of wage delays or lapses in industrial safety leading to worker deaths or injuries that were hushed up by management before workers’ intervened.How social media amplified the protestsSaeed Akthar Mirza’s 1980 cult classic Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyoon Aata Hai shows the transformation of a young man. Nasiruddin Shah plays the eponymous car mechanic who imitates the ways of the rich and is scornful of his co-workers when they go on strike. An attack on his father, a mill worker, by the factory bouncers turns his undirected rage towards the bosses. Scrolling down the profiles of striking migrant workers, many of whose videos have now raked millions of views on Instagram, one will find similar transformations.We can find them posting about the pride of coming to work in a reputed factory or longing for the family left behind in the village set to hypnotic Jai Sree Ram beats. News of the struggle at IOCL Panipat and Adani Power in Madhya Pradesh’s Singrauli also spread through reels made by the workers themselves. This inspired workers across the energy sector, who were already angry with their contractors and employers. In some cases, the protests were triggered through industrial accidents and the management’s attempt to cover up deaths or injuries.Expressions of rage may vary. It can take the form of a peaceful sit-in – like at the ongoing month-long protest at Reliance-owned Alok Industries in Gujarat’s Vapi – or a 15-day hunger strike at the Western Coalfields in Betul, MP. The majority of protests involved massive work stoppages by thousands, like at four Ultratech Cement plants in Rewa (MP), Patratu (Jharkhand) and Petnikota and Tadipatri (Andhra Pradesh). In other places, factory infrastructure was razed and vehicles set ablaze, such as at the Adani Power plant in Singrauli, MP, and the ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel premises in Surat’s Hazira. Peaceful or not, the state and management has responded by calling in the police, ordering lathi charges and arresting workers. At IOCL, Panipat, Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) fired to disperse the gathering and FIRs were registered against 2,900 unnamed workers.One very important aspect of understanding the issue is the fact that these workers are migrants, mostly from eastern states. Phrases like ‘Ek Bihari sau pe bhari’ are seen by millions on their reels, set to pumped-up lyrics such as ‘Jahiya hamar giraftari ho jaayi, chhote-mote kaand nahi, bhaari ho jaayi’. It is a reclamation of the identity of a ‘Bihari’ migrant, often used in the better off states and industrial establishments synonymously with ‘gareeb aadmi’. It is the basis for discrimination, with political actors riling up locals against outsiders without solving the crisis of livelihood faced by either. In other protests, such as at cement plants in Jharkhand’s Patratu in Ramgarh district and Nimbahera in Chittoragarh, Rajasthan, we also see the opposite – protests by locals retrenched from promised jobs and replaced with a more malleable migrant workforce.Both trends indicate that migrants’ issues are related to their citizenship being questioned in the host states. Extra-economic coercion is enforced as they are not voters there, and in many cases they are unable to return home to vote either. Political establishments have no incentive to care. The Union government is willing to spend crores to extend voting rights to non-resident Indians through postal ballots but is unwilling to spend on 14 crore interstate migrant workers earning a livelihood away from their home states. Laws such as the Inter-state Migrant Workmen Act, 1979 and the new Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 (OSH Code, in Chapter XI, Section 60-61) entitle workers to journey allowance, appointment letters and so on. Most have never heard about these laws.Eight hour workday We find that most of these troubled industrial units rely on contractual workers for the bulk of their production. The new Labour Codes, enacted in November 2025 amid widespread opposition from workers organisations, would categorise most of what they do as ‘core activities’ – tasks that are essential to run the establishments. While the OSH Code (Chapter XI, Section 57) prohibits employing contract workers in core activities, it has left employers the loophole to continue using contract workers if the work has been outsourced for a long period or if the job is not full time. Contract workers can be used either in shorter shifts or fired periodically and re-hired to bypass this provision.That is why the demands raised during most of these strikes focus on returning to the eight-hour workday and double payment for overtime as per law. Gujarat, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh, some of the regions witnessing massive strikes today, amended state laws or brought in ordinances to extend the workday to ten or 12 hours. Although work hours are defined in the OSH Code, hours worked overtime are now set by the state. Earlier, the Factories Act had capped overtime at 75 hours per financial quarter but many states have amended their rules to extend the bar to 144 hours. Maharashtra, Haryana and Rajasthan have already increased the limit to 144 hours per quarter.A recent Labour Ministry FAQ, released on March 16, mentions that payment of social security is the responsibility of contractors. The Payment of Wages Act, 1936, which is among the 29 labour laws axed by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led regime, laid down that if the contractor failed on their social security commitments, the onus of paying minimum wages, provident fund and gratuity was with the ‘principal employer’ using the contractor. In the recent industrial disputes in the energy sector, the principal employers are either Maharatna PSUs such as Indian Oil and NTPC, or corporate giants like Adani Power, Tata Power, ArcelorMittal and so on. Contractors in most cases are locally-registered companies run by politically-connected individuals. Workers are left at the mercy of these thugs. The corporations can keep a clean record despite industrial accidents or other illegalities, denying that such workers ever existed on their direct payroll. Occupational safety and health is a widespread concern among the protesting workers. They are demanding basic amenities such as shades for rest, clean drinking water, toilets and safety gear. That there are strikes over this shows the blatant abuse of laws, mandating that the primary employer, that is the factory management, should ensure welfare facilities (OSH Code, Chapter V, Section 23). Many strikes or protests broke out after accidents took place in the factory, such as when cardiac arrest led to the death of a migrant worker during a 12 hour night shift at Adani Power’s Singrauli plant and the management tried to wash off all responsibility. This quickly led to solidarity actions in other Adani Power plants – 6,000 workers walked out of the company’s plants in Korba and Raigarh districts in Chhattisgarh.Interestingly, nowhere do we find a union or workers’ committee for deliberations among workers and negotiations with the management on any issue that may arise. Neither do these belts have any history of labour organising. Most workers got organised after seeing word of unrest in other areas through social media. They have been pushed so far to the edge due to the denial of basic democratic rights that an outburst is enough. ‘Industrial peace’The Industrial Relations Code, 2020 replaces labour courts with industrial tribunals which will have administrative babus alongside judicial officers. Their mandate is to ensure conciliation between individual workers and asymmetrically powerful monopoly corporations, not punish violations. The majority of strike actions themselves have been declared illegal, mandating a 60-day notice period before strikes and a 14-day ‘cooling off’ period. No such strike action will be allowed if the management raises a dispute with a conciliation officer or an appeal is pending before an industrial tribunal, and for an additional 60 days after the tribunal proceedings have ended. Participating in or financially supporting such an illegal strike will result in fines up to Rs 10,000 and even imprisonment. In other words, mechanisms which ensured what the state terms ‘industrial peace’ are being self-immolated. Udita Halder and Sourya Majumder are associated with Migrant Workers Solidarity Network.