Panel turns down Labour Laws Bill

Expressing dismay at the lack of seriousness on the part of the government on the issue, the standing committee on labour today returned the Labour Laws (Exemption from furnishing returns and maintaining registers by certain establishments) Amendment Bill to the government and asked it to hold discussions with trade unions and employees.

"The proposed amendments in the Bill seem overwhelmingly in favour of employers," Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy, chairman of standing committee on labour, said in the report tabled in Parliament. The committee said the laws should be made simpler so that the interests of the workers are protected.

The All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) and the Hind Mazdoor Sabha have opposed the amendment on the ground that the exemptions were meant only for small establishments and extending them to establishments with up to 500 employees amounted to changing the basic characteristic of the Act.

The Bill proposes that establishments employing upto 500 workers, instead of the present level of 19, be exempted from furnishing returns and maintaining registers.

The unions pointed out that the second National Commission on Labour was to have a separate dispensation for establishments having an employment size of 19 or less only. The unions also criticised the proposed amendment which would exempt employers from displaying the abstracts of Acts and rules at work premises.

"The present requirement does not cause any inconvenience to employers. This move to waive the requirement of bringing to the worker's knowledge the legal provisions available to them is unacceptable," an AITUC spokesperson said.