Government plans strong reforms pitch at labour conference

While the amendments to the Factories Act, 1948 are pending in the Parliament, the labour ministry has also finalised changes to the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act 1986 and has also drafted codes on wages and industrial relations that seek to relax norms for retrenchment of workers by factories that are likely to be tabled in Parliament in the upcoming Monsoon session.

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However, 11 Central trade unions that have already opposed the proposed amendments have also announced a national strike on September 2.

“There is need for greater dialogue and discussion on these amendments to show that the government is not anti-labour but wants to update these laws so that they would help in job creation,” said a person familiar with the development.

The ILC is traditionally an annual meeting attended by Central and state labour ministers and officials, representatives of employers’ unions as well as members of trade unions to discuss pertinent issues.

“We have received a notice that the conference is likely to be held on July 20 and 21. We also want to raise the issue of these so-called reforms that we feel are anti-worker,” said a trade union leader.

The labour ministry has also called a meeting of the Standing Labour Committee, which sets the agenda for the ILC, on July 10 to review the key discussion points. The last ILC was held in May 2013 and had set the agenda for the next conference and had called for a review of implementation of recommendations of previous ILCs on contract labour, minimum wages, skilled workers, tripartite mechanism, as well as discussion on issues including social security, removal of micro, small and medium enterprises from the purview of the Factories Act and amendment of the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965.