Congress makes NDA Labour Law, sets conditions to back Factory Bill

Congress has decided to object to four key amendments in the labour laws introduced by the government this week, setting the stage for another confrontation with the ruling party.

Senior Congress MPs, including vice-president Rahul Gandhi, met on Friday and decided the party won't support the Bills unless the government drops these amendments which, they argue, are different from what the UPA regime had worked on.

In the Factories Law Act, Congress is objecting to the provision for increasing the number of employees without giving them provident fund/gratuity cover. The party also wants the government to drop the proposal to lift the ban on employing women in night shifts from 7 pm to 6 am. Congress thinks this provision goes against the spirit of ensuring the safety and welfare of women workers.

In the Apprentices Act, Congress is against the amendment that seeks to allow factories to enhance the minimum number of apprentices employable, per quarter, from 50 to 100 per unit.

The party thinks it could encourage factories to "to make increasing use of apprentices at the cost of regular workers" as a short-cut to skirt the provisions of labour laws besides affecting chances of regularisation of apprentices.

The government had introduced the Factories (Amendment) Bill, 2014, and the Apprentices (Amendment) Bill, 2014, in Lok Sabha on Thursday. ET had reported that Sangh-affiliated trade union Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh too had reservations about the amendments.

Different from UPA Law: Congress

Congress leaders say if the government doesn't agree to their demands on labour laws, it will join other parties in demanding that the Bills follow the normal practice of being processed by the standing committee first.

While the NDA government has the majority to get the Bills passed in the Lok Sabha without Congress support, it could face an uphill task in the Rajya Sabha without co-operation from the main Opposition party. Earlier, its efforts to push through amendments to the Insurance Act had hit a roadblock after Congress insisted it be routed through a select committee.

Friday's meeting was attended by Rahul Gandhi, Congress' leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, Rajya Sabha leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, Kamal Nath, Anand Sharma and Oscar Fernandes.

Chief minister of election-bound Maharashtra, Prithviraj Chavan, also attended the meeting. Kharge and Fernandes, who were labour ministers in the previous UPA regimes, briefed the meeting about how some of the proposed amendments in the current Bills are different from what had been proposed by the UPA regime. "We think some of the proposed amendments can alter the very definition and goals of the labour laws, especially the Factories Law Act," Kharge told ET.

The NDA regime is trying to argue that these Bills are on the same lines as (the ones) our government had worked on. But these amendments are different from what the UPA regime had worked on. If the government is in a hurry to get these Bills passed in the budget session, it should drop some of these proposed amendments. Otherwise, the Bill can always be sent to the standing committee for thorough processing," he  said.

Source: http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/

Cabinet approves changes in labour laws

The Union cabinet on Wednesday approved proposals to amend three key labour laws, including the Factories Act 1948, pushing ahead with reforms to archaic legislation considered an impediment to output growth and employment creation in the labour-intensive manufacturing sector. 

The other two proposals relate to the amendment of the Apprentices Act 1961 and the Labour Laws (exemption from furnishing returns and maintaining registers by certain establishments) Act, 1988, labour ministry officials said on condition of anonymity. No official announcement of cabinet approval had been made as of press time on Wednesday.

 “While we have tried to ease the process of doing business with industries, the amendments have kept in mind the safety and welfare of employees,” said one labour ministry official. 

The proposed changes to the Factories Act centre on five points—improved safety of workers; doubling the provision of overtime from 50 hours a quarter to 100 hours in some cases and from 75 hours to 125 hours in other work of public interest; increasing the penalty for violation of the Act; relaxing the norms for women to work in some industry segments at night; and reducing to 90 from 240 the number of days an employee needs to work before becoming eligible for benefits like leave with pay.

 In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, minister of state for labour Vishnu Deo Sai had said the government was considering changes to the 66-year-old Factories Act to make it “more compatible with the requirement of the present scenario in the industrial sector”.

 The official said the proposed amendment would do away with a provision for prosecution of factory owners for petty offences like not maintaining a clean toilet, for instance. The amendment proposes to reduce punishments prescribed under such heads to remove the fear of persecution among factory owners.

 Sai also said in the Rajya Sabha that the government was making provisions for enhancing the safety of workers and for better amenities on factory premises. In the Apprentices Act, the government is seeking to expand the scope of employment as apprentices on the shop floor. Until now, most apprentices have been from engineering backgrounds; the government is seeking to push for the induction of non-engineers as apprentices. It is aimed at allowing young job seekers and students to gain industry-relevant skills on the shop floor. “The salary segment too has been liberalized,” the labour ministry official said. In the first year, an apprentice will get 70% of what a semi-skilled worker gets, in the second year 80% and in the third year 90%.

 For those employed in small-scale industries, the government will pay 50% of their salary and the factory management the remainder. “This will increase the...skilled manpower in the country and help industries get job-ready employees,” the official said. India has 300,000 apprentices; Germany has more than 3 million. Amending the Act would open the doors to employment as apprentices for millions more. The proposal to amend Labour Laws (exemption from furnishing returns and maintaining registers by certain establishments) Act, 1988, will allow thousands of small industries to file just one return for compliance with a dozen or more labour laws. Once the amendment is passed, it will exempt small industries with less than 40 workers from the need to comply separately with each of the laws. A single-page return on compliance will do. 

“The initiative is a fine balance between labour welfare and industry-friendly and job-oriented reform,” said a second labour ministry official, who also declined to be named. Trade unions are opposed to some of the industry-friendly changes the government is bringing about and will meet in the first week of August to discuss the proposals, said D.L. Sachdeva, national secretary of the All India Trade Union Congress. “We are opposed to the proposal to put women in the night shift. We are also opposed to increasing the overtime limit to 100 hours from 50 hours per quarter,” he said. The cabinet also decided to place in Parliament “action taken” reports on the findings by a commission that studied illegal mining in Jharkhand, Odisha and Goa.

Source : http://www.livemint.com

Government aims at benifiting workers, to amend 3 labour laws

The ministry of labour and employment will soon seek Cabinet approval for amendments to three archaic labour laws, kickstarting a long-pending revamp of labour market rules with the aim of benefitting workers and increasing productivity.

The ministry is finalising changes to the Child Labour Act of 1986, the Minimum Wage Act of 1948 and the Apprenticeship Act of 1961, a senior official told ET. The proposed amendments will be put up before the Cabinet next week, after which they will be introduced in Parliament in the ongoing budget session, the official, who did not wish to be named, said. Parliament's budget session ends on August 14.

"The ministry is keen to see these amendments going through in the current session and I see no hindrance in getting them passed in Parliament. We are finalising the amendments proposed to the above laws by incorporating the views of various stakeholders," the official said. Meanwhile, in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, minister of state for labour and employment Vishnu Deo Sai said, "Government is actively considering amendments to various labour laws. The interministerial/public/tripartite consultations is in progress."

Although most of these politically-sensitive proposals were taken up by the previous UPA government, none could be concluded. However, this time round, they are unlikely to face any hurdles as the BJP-led NDA government enjoys a majority in Parliament and the Congress, or its allies, are unlikely to raise objections.

As part of the amendments proposed to the Minimum Wage Act, the ministry will set a national floor for minimum wages for workers across professions, resulting in a significant jump in salaries for workers in the unorganised sector. The minimum wages would be revised every five years by the Centre in accordance with the NSSO's Consumer Expenditure Survey. It would also be revised every six months by state governments in accordance with the Consumer Price Index.

In the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, the proposed amendments will bar children between 14 and 18 years from taking up hazardous occupations such as mining related jobs. At present, children under 14 years can work except in prohibited sectors such as domestic work, automobile workshops, bidi making, carpet weaving, handloom and powerloom industry, and mines. The move is significant as child labour accounts for nearly 8.5% of the country's 312 million-strong workforce. Of these, 43.53 lakh children are between 5 and 14 years of age, as per the Census 2011.

The government's emphasis on skill development will also lead to amendment to the Apprenticeship Act over the next one month, in line with the announcement made by finance minister Arun Jaitley in his budget speech.

The key changes proposed include dropping the clause that mandates imprisonment of company directors who fail to implement the Apprenticeship Act of 1961 and doing away with an amendment proposed by the UPA mandating employers to absorb at least half of its apprentices in regular jobs, besides adding 500 new trades and vocations under the scheme, including skills for services sectors like IT-enabled services.

Source : http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/