Page 31 - August-2020-Issue

ARTICLE

him were not pursued by the
Government.
• It may be mentioned that even
prior to that, the National
Labour Law Association, a
society of professional in the
field of labour laws under the
Chairmanship of Shri T. S.
Shankaran, retired Additional
Secretary in the Ministry of
Labour, had submitted its re-
port titled 'Draft Labour Code'
to the Ministry of Labour in the
eighties and suggested that the
various labour laws could be
compressed into five functional to different people. Industry - Industrial Relations;
codes; wants hire and fire, though
- Industrial Relations.; they may not couch it in so - Wages;
- Social Security;
- Wages ; many words. Trade Unions - Safety and working conditions;
- Working Conditions and safety; want status quo to be adhered - Welfare of Workers.
to. Where is the question of any
- Social Security; and reforms, they ask, in a coun-
- Labour Welfare. try where payment of wages • The Commission further sug-
cannot be ensured, and where gested that for coverage, the
• The Ministry of Labour in child/bonded labour cannot criteria and thresh-hold limit
its Note On Making Labour be eliminated? Industry points for the organized sector should
Market Flexible; Suggestions out that trade unions represent be minimum employment of
for Consideration-2005 looked only 7% of the work force, trade 20 persons. For establishments
at the issues of labour reforms unions counter that industry employing less than 20 work-
as under: 'Within the next de- represents only itself. Basically, ers, there should be a separate
cade, half of India’s unem- both are protecting their own composite law providing for
ployed will be its educated turf. Sadly, nobody is talking to registration, safety, health, wel-
youth. If one-half of India’s the youth of the country, whose fare of workers, hours of work,
population is under 25, India future is at stake. Of course, leave, wages, bonus, etc. (Paras
simply needs to double its everybody should get a per- 6.11, 6.17, 6.28 and 106)..
employment. THE BPO/IT in- manent job, but where are the • The Commission also recom-
dustry generates a mere 0.2% jobs?' mended that the maximum
of employment. Employment wage for definition of workman
growth and opportunity will, • The Second National Labour should be Rs. 25,000/- p.m., uni-
therefore, come only as the Commission, set up in 1999 un- formly for all the labour laws
Indian economy expands. It der the Chairmanship of Shri and that supervisors should
means that India ought to re- Ravinder Verma, submitted its also be kept out of the definition
move the difficulties that have report in June, 2002 and made of ‘worker’ and clubbed with
held back the manufacturing some very important, compre- managerial and administrative
and service industries.' hensive and authoritative rec-
ommendations in the area of employees.(Para 6.19). There
• It was further stated in the labour law reforms. The report should be single definition of
above NOTE as under: 'Why recommended that the existing 'appropriate Government' ap-
are labour reforms so difficult body of labour laws should be plicable to all labour laws.
in India? Because labour re- re-grouped in four or five areas • To provide for minimum level
forms mean different things pertaining to- of protection to the managerial

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