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From left to right: Shailendra Goswami, CMD, Pushkaraj Industries; Anant Sardeshmukh, Director General, MCCIA; and Sandeep Chaphekar, MD, Fairdeal Courier & Logistics and Yojana Manpower Services, at Business Standard Smart Business in Pune on 15th November 2014, in association with MCCIA.
Labour unrest is not new to India, but the spate of incidents India Inc. has seen recently has made several players rethink their strategy on tackling labour aspirations and issues. A recent conference held by the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA) on ‘Labour Pains - Companies have them too: Irritants of Labour and Industrial Legislation’ along with Business Standard, tried to address these issues.
Industry players attending the conference not only agreed that there is an immediate need to look into labour reforms and legislations, but also stated that companies too need to look at the way they treat contract labour.
The conference was addressed by industry experts that included Shailendra Goswami, CMD, Pushkaraj Industries; Sandeep Chaphekar, MD, Fairdeal Courier & Logistics and Yojana Manpower Services; and Anant Sardeshmukh, director general, MCCIA.
Goswami, who spent several years with Pune-based manufacturer Kirloskar Group, said that in his 14 year association as a business unit head, he never had any clashes with the union neither was any unpleasant incident reported in the company. “The reason was simple, I kept all doors of communication open. I personally feel that all disputes can be resolved through dialogue,” he added.
With larger corporates making headlines for the unrest that occurred at their premises, several small and medium enterprises have had to bear the brunt of these unrests, impacting productivity and even revenue loss.
Chaphekar, who is both an employer and a provider of contract labour to corporates and manufacturers in Pune, said that in the clash between labourers and the employer, he has burnt his fingers several times. “I agree that there needs to be a dialogue between employer and employee. As a contract labourer provider, I am trapped in-between. There is a gap between employees working for the company and labour that work on my behalf. For the last 25 years, I am trying to bridge this gap but it seems difficult,” said Chaphekar. He added that in several of his deals, he has seen companies misuse or exploit contract labourers.
Sardeshmukh felt that there is a need for legislation to keep up with the pace of economic development, which also means bringing in rules that allow companies to be flexible in hiring. “Flexibility in terms of employment is a necessity but that does not mean a free hand to hire and fire. Both the employer and the government will have to make sure that the employees retrenched are taken care of.” He said that a lot was needed to be done on the reforms side. “There is a crucial need for labour reform. If you look at the history of the legislations we have and the conditions then, you do feel that the intentions of the government were good, and there is an angle of social security, but unfortunately we have lost the relevance of the dynamism with which the pace of the economy has changed,” said the panelist.
