The Suspension of Labour laws and Precarious situation of labourers

   

 The Suspension of Labour laws and Precarious situation of labourers

    Without labor nothing prospers.” – Sophocles

     It is Universal truth that labourers are the complement of the society.  So much so that  industries, Construction and factories are entirely depend on them. They toil hard for their livelihood therefore their rights should be protected. There are many laws inorder to protect their rights.

       Unfortunately, Keeping aside question of law- labour law is the subject matter of concurrent list and there are many laws have been enacted by the Central Government that state Government can not brush aside but  Recently some State Government especially Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat have declared to labour law exemption that means except very few labour laws, following laws will not applicable on labourers.

1. The Minimum Wages Act, 1948. The main objective of this act is to provide safeguard the interests of the workers engaged in the unorganized sector. This Act further provides for fixation and revision of minimum wages of the workers engaged in employment.

2. Maternity Benefite Act, 1961. The aim of this act to regulate the employment of women in certain periods before and after childbirth, to provide for maternity benefits including maternity leave ,wages , bonus , nursing breaks etc.

3. The Equal Remuneration Act, 1976. The main objective of this act, to provide for the payment of equal remuneration to men and women workers and for the prevention of discrimination, on the ground of sex, against women in the matter of employment. 

4. The Trade Union Act, 1926. The main objectives of this act are to protect workers against exploitation by employers, to represent the grievance of employees on behalf of them to the management, to protect & safeguard rights of workers provided to them under employment clause or labour laws.

5. The Industrial Employment Act,1946. The main purpose of the Act is to require employers to define precisely the conditions of service of workmen employed in the industrial establishments & to make such conditions known to the workmen employed & to regulate the conditions of recruitment , discharge, disciplinary action , holidays, shift working of the workers.

6. The Industrial Dispute Act,1947. As it relates to term of service such as layoff, retrenchment and closer of enterprise and strikes and lockout etc.

7. The Factories Act, the main objectives of this act are to ensure safety measures on factory premises and promote health and welfare of workers. 

 8. The code on wages, 2019

This code was introduced in Lok Sabha by the Minister of Labour, Mr. Santosh Gangwar on July 23, 2019. It seeks to regulate wage and bonus payments in all employments where any industry, trade, business, or manufacture is carried out. This code replaced  four labour regulations are  The Payment of Wages Act, 1936; The Minimum Wages Act, 1948; The Payment of Bonus Act, 1965; and The Equal Remuneration Act, 1976.

   Therefore, these laws are pivotal for laborers, however, according to declaration thses laws will not applicable. 

         There are some exceptions of this order -

👉The bounded labour system (abolition) Act, 1976. This Act provides, the abolition of bonded labour system with a view to preventing the economic and physical exploitation of the weaker sections of the people. 

👉Employee compensation Act, 1923.

Aims of this Act to provide some relief in case of accidents arising out of and in the course of employment and causing either death or disablement of employees. 

👉Building and other construction Workers Act, 1996.

The main objectives of this act are to regulate the employment and conditions of service of building and other construction workers and to provide for their safety, health and welfare measures.

  

👉Section 5 of payment of wages Act, 1936.

       Hence, it is the matter of grave concern that by this announcement maximum laws bill not applicable on labourers and it will lead industries and companies toward arbitrariness and it will also promote exploitation of workers. So much so that they have to work up 12 hour's. Above all, pregnant women/workers will be deprived of their maternity leave. Consiquently, a PIL has been filed in the Allahabad High court against this order thus Uttar Pradesh Government has withdrawn it's decisions to extend daily working hours in industries Unit 12 hours. Now it is the duty of other State that they should withdraw their proposal or declaration. If state governments want to protect unorganised workers, there is the legislations that the unorganised workers social security Act, 2008 but Any state government has not yet implemented this Act, therefore government should implement this Act.

                               ✍️_Vikas Deep

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