Bardhan shoots down Montek's labour agenda

The remark by Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia that the government wanted a flexible labour policy but without a "hire and fire" system was not acceptable to the Left parties, CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan said today.

"Not at all", Bardhan said when asked if the suggestion was acceptable to the Left parties. "It (hire-and-fire system) is not the only thing. The CII, the industrialists themselves, have demanded flexible hours of work".

Pointing out that historically, people have fought for an eight-hour working day, he said the industry wanted to see this limit removed. Besides, it wanted to introduce contract labour in which the "security of job goes", he said.

The industry is also pushing for changing Rule 5 (B) of the Industrial Dispute Act that gives them the power to close down units with up to 1,000 workers without government's permission, he said.

Ahluwalia had on Friday said that rigidities in labour laws were affecting the domestic job market and raising the costs of companies, especially in the manufacturing sector.

Bardhan defended the Left parties' opposition to FDI in retail even as China was aggressively wooing foreign investment in this sector. "China has its problems", he said.

"Here, People starve when they are thrown out of jobs. China has a plan to sustain such people for some time. We don't have any such plan," he said.