Rajasthan may have initiated long-pending reforms in labour laws, but the Centre has said it is unclear whether the state has followed the international norms of consultation with trade unions for some of the amendments. “It is also not clear whether tripartite consultations have taken place as required under ILO Convention 144,” MoS (Independent Charge) Labour and Employment Bandaru Dattatreya informed Lok Sabha on Tuesday. The minister was responding to a question on amendments by the Rajasthan government on retrenchment under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, and provisions to redefine the factory under the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970, and the Factories Act, 1948. The government of Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje was the first to begin overhauling India’s archaic labour laws in June this year, aiming to lower the compliance burden on factories, and give them greater flexibility to hire and fire. The state assembly enacted amendments to the Industrial Disputes Act, Factories Act and Contract Labour Act in August, which received Presidential assent earlier this month. According to Convention 144 of the International Labour Organisation, member nations must “ensure effective consultations. between representatives of the government, of employers and of workers”. India ratified the convention in 1978. Based on a representation, the ILO can take up the matter with a member nation at its annual meeting, or the ILO director-general may separately seek an explanation. A Rajasthan government official, however, said tripartite consultations did take place but the trade unions did not agree to the provisions. “In such a situation, what can we do? Further, these unions just represent 5 per cent of the labour force and not all workers,” he said. Another state official added that such discussions were not mandatory under domestic law. “These amendments are now law, and are based on the suggestions of the Second National Commission on Labour,” he said. Dattatreya also informed Lok Sabha that these provisions were likely to be opposed by trade unions. A K Padmanabhan, president of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), said, “The consultation process has been completely thrown away and unilateral decisions are being taken. The Rajasthan government did not have any consultations with the trade unions on any of the amendments and neither has the Centre so far called us for any discussions.” Trade unions have also contended that doubling the number of workers in the definition of a factory under the Factories Act has pushed nearly 75 per cent of the estimated 7,622 factories in the state out of the purview of labour laws. Dattatreya told Lok Sabha the Centre had “no objection” to other amendments by the Rajasthan government, including provisions under the Industrial Disputes Act on recognition of a trade unions, and payment of three months’ average pay to workmen in case of retrenchment. The Centre also has no objection to amendments to the Factories’ Act by the state on provisions related to the compounding of offences and prosecution.
