Skip to main content

Govts laboured delivery on labour reforms

By

Long wait by industries for key labour reforms in the country might not be over as the Union government is going slow on their demands. After coming to power, the National Democratic Alliance ( NDA) government had announced a slew of labour reforms such as labour codes on industrial relations and wages, small factories Bill, factories (amendment) Bill, employees provident fund ( amendment) Bill, employees’ state insurance (amendment) Bill, among others.
However, these are pending at various stages.
One of the factors delaying this reform process is the staunch opposition by the trade unions which have collectively called a nationwide strike on September 2. The industries are desperateforlabourlawreforms. “We are hopeful and positive about the reform process initiated by the government and hope it moves in the right direction. We want the changes as early as possible but there is a consultativeprocesswhichweappreciate the government has to follow and get all the stakeholders on board,” said Babu Khan, senior director at Confederation of Indian Industry ( CII).
Accordingtosources, theproposed industrial relations Bill, which eases retrenchment norms, has been sent back to a sub- committee for re- examination by the Union labour ministry after receiving staunch opposition from the trade unions. The Bill was discussed by a sub- committee of workers and employers for almost four months after trade unions had opposedvariousprovisionsofthe Bill, especially those related to easingretrenchmentforemployers.
Thesub- committeeisscheduled to meet on August 20.
The proposed industrial relations Bill has seen sent back for review despite the committee recommending some of the long- pending demands of the trade unions. These included mandatory recognising trade unions as representative of workers in case of a dispute and creating a re- skilling fund to train retrenched workers where the employer will have to pay 30 days of wage towards the fund. This was in addition to a three times increase in the compensation package in case of retrenchment.
The proposed IR Bill allows factories with up to 300 workers to retrench them or shut shop without government approval. The present norms allow factories with 100 workers to do so.
Along with this, outsiders will not be allowed to become office bearers of trade unions in the organised sector. Also, there are several restrictions on calling a strike.
Business Standard, New Delhi, 19th August 2015

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Household debt up, but India still lags emerging-market economies: RBI

By
  Although household debt in India is rising, driven by increased borrowing from the financial sector, it remains lower than in other emerging-market economies (EMEs), the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its Financial Stability Report. It added that non-housing retail loans, largely taken for consumption, accounted for 55 per cent of total household debt.As of December 2024, India’s household debt-to-gross domestic product ratio stood at 41.9 per cent. “...Non-housing retail loans, which are mostly used for consumption purposes, formed 54.9 per cent of total household debt as of March 2025 and 25.7 per cent of disposable income as of March 2024. Moreover, the share of these loans has been growing consistently over the years, and their growth has outpaced that of both housing loans and agriculture and business loans,” the RBI said in its report.Housing loans, by contrast, made up 29 per cent of household debt, and their growth has remained steady. However, disaggregated data sho...
Post a Comment
Read more

External spillovers likely to hit India's financial system: RBI report

By
  While India’s growth remains insulated from global headwinds mainly due to buoyant domestic demand, the domestic financial system could, however, be impacted by external spillovers, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its half yearly Financial Stability Report published on Monday.Furthermore, the rising global trade disputes and intensifying geopolitical hostilities could negatively impact the domestic growth outlook and reduce the demand for bank credit, which has decelerated sharply. “Moreover, it could also lead to increased risk aversion among investors and further corrections in domestic equity markets, which despite the recent correction, remain at the high end of their historical range,” the report said.It noted that there is some build-up of stress, primarily in financial markets, on account of global spillovers, which is reflected in the marginal rise in the financial system stress indicator, an indicator of the stress level in the financial system, compared to its p...
Post a Comment
Read more

Healthy balance sheets augur well for economy: RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra

By
  Large tariffs by the United States administration and elevated geopolitical risk have increased near-term global financial stability risks, and along with weather events pose downside risks to domestic growth, Reserve Bank of India(RBI) Governor Sanjay Malhotra said in the foreword to the Financial Stability Report released today.Noting that domestic growth momentum is buoyed by strong domestic drivers, sound macroeconomic fundamentals and prudent policies, Malhotra said: “External spillovers and weather-related events could pose downside risks to growth.”On the other hand, he said the outlook for inflation is benign, and there is greater confidence in the durable alignment of inflation with the Reserve Bank’s target.Commenting that the structural shifts reshaping the global economy are making policy intervention challenging, the Governor emphasised the need for central banks and financial sector regulators to remain vigilant, prudent and agile in safeguarding their economies and...
Post a Comment
Read more