CENTRAL
TRADE UNIONS TO HOLD NATIONAL PROTEST CONVENTION
AGAINST LABOUR LAW AMENDMENTS AND
FDI IN DEFENCE, INSURANCE, RAILWAYS
All the Central Trade
Unions of the country express deep concern at the reported unilateral move to
amend the labour laws by a number of state governments and by the Central Govt.
Most of the amendments sought to be done will have serious negative impact on the working conditions including trade union rights of the
workers and the employees. It is unfortunate that in spite of the assurance
given by the Labour Minister that Central Trade Unions will be consulted, these
amendments in labour laws are being pushed through without any consultations
with them. The Rajasthan Assembly has passed three amendments which in our view
are more retrograde and detrimental to the rights and livelihood of the
working people at large. The whole process is aimed to weaken the tripartite
consultation mechanism.
The amendments passed by
Rajasthan Assembly on 31st July, 2014 in Industrial Disputes
Act, Factories Act and Contract Labour (Regulation & Abolition) Act will
make hire and fire much easier for the employers and rampant casualisation of employment. Liberalising the
provisions of Factories Act will imperil the safety at work place in small and
medium scale enterprises and will push majority of factories out of its
coverage. Similarly raising the ceiling
of 20 to 50 workers for registration of contractors will enable the principal
employer and contractor to become unaccountable for service conditions of the
workers in a large number of enterprises.
Certain amendments
approved by the Union Cabinet in Factories Act, Labour Laws (Exemption from
Furnishing Returns and Maintaining Registers for certain Establishments) and
Apprentice Act will also adversely affect the service conditions of the workers
throwing overwhelming majority of them out of the coverage of all basic labour laws. The Central Govt. is also considering
amendments in Minimum Wages Act and Industrial Disputes Act. The proposed
amendment to Apprenticeship Act can replace the contract/casual/ temporary
workers and even regular workers by comparatively low paid apprentices.
In essence, all moves of amendments in the labour laws, both by the
central government and by the Govt in Rajasthan are aimed at empowering the
employers to retrench/lay off workers or declare closure/shut down at will and
also resort to mass scale contractorisation. These are also designed to push
out more than seventy per cent of the industrial establishments in the country
and their workers out of the purview of almost all labour laws, thereby
allowing the employers a free hand to further squeeze and exploit the workers.
The CTUs also expressed dismay over the Govt’s total inaction in
implementing the consensus recommendations of 43rd, 44th
and 45th Indian Labour Conferences on formulation of minimum wages,
same wage and benefits as regular workers for the contract workers and granting
status of workers with attendant benefits to those employed in various central
govt schemes.
The Central Trade Unions also denounced the retrograde move of the Govt
in hiking/allowing FDI in Defence sector, insurance and Railways and also its
aggressive move for disinvestment in CPSUs.
The CTUs call upon the Rajasthan Govt.
CTUs also decided to build up united
struggle against such anti-worker and anti-people machinations of the Govt and
in the immediate preparatory stage decided to hold a NATIONAL CONVENTION latest
by first week of September 2014 involving all federations and unions across the
sectors wherefrom programme of united movement will be announced. CTUs also call upon their industrial
federations to develop joint movement on their sectoral issues and against the
policies of the Govt.
AIUTUC TUCC SEWA AICCTU UTUC LPF
With greetings
Yours comradely
(Abdul Sayeed
Secretary
General
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