Standing Labour Commission meet gets underway

Representatives of a section of recognised trade unions today accused the government of discriminating against them and said that they were not being included in the tripartite consultative mechanism of various labour committees despite fulfilling norms.
At the 46th session of the Standing Labour Committee (SLC) today, Labour Minister Oscar Fernandes announced that issues like the above would be included on the agenda after it was also alleged that non-workers were being included against the rules in the tripartite mechanism.
The tripartite mechanism comprises the government, the employers and the workers for holding discussions on labour issues.
"We demand that we be included in the tripartite panels. We are not sent to any conferences or international meets despite fulfilling norms. We had raised this issue last year as well that we are being discriminated against," General Secretary of the Trade Union Coordination Centre, SP Tiwari, told reporters here.

He made an unannounced intervention to raise the issue at SLC today as soon as it was convened.
He alleged that the government was involving non-workers in the tripartite mechanism along with those who only supported their policies.

SLC is the precursor to the Indian Labour Conference and finalises the agenda for the meet which is chaired by the Prime Minister every year.
Among the points of agenda discussed today for the conference was social security for workers in both the organised and unorganised sectors and the necessary changes in the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970 and Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.

Removing micro and small enterprises from the purview of the Factories Act and amendments in the Bonus Act are some of the other items being discussed for possible inclusion as part of the agenda for the conference which is due in March this year.