The Hindu Business Line : A case for equitable employment practice

ACCORDING to recent reports, the Indian industry was taken by surprise by the demands of some of the constituents of the new government to extend job reservations to the private sector. Representatives of the private sector have advanced several arguments as to why this is a bad idea.

They find no economic justification for equitable employment practices in their bailiwick, such practices being motivated by political considerations, according to them. They do not believe that these practices are consistent with today's global environment, and fear that it will render Indian industry uncompetitive.

It may interest these industry leaders to know that if their sons and daughters were to come to Canada, one of the reasons they may expect to find a decent job is the Federal Contractors Programme (FCP). Under this programme, every organisation that receives over $200,000 in federal grants, aids or contracts, and employs over a hundred employees, must implement an employment equity programme at all levels.

The employment equity strategy is a typically Canadian response to the historic patterns of inequity existing in the public and private sectors, resulting in the under-representation of women, racial minorities, Canada First Nations peoples, and persons with disabilities (officially called `designated groups') in the country's workplaces. It involves the following systemic measures:

1. Collection of employment data to ascertain the participation rates of these historically under-represented groups in a particular workplace.

2. A review of employment systems to identify potential systemic barriers to the employment of members of the four designated groups.

3. Establishment of goals and timetables, taking into account availability of qualified people to achieve a workforce that reflects the participation of different groups in Canadian society.

4. Development of positive measures to ensure that the goals are met.

5. Regular monitoring of results and renewal of goals.

To ensure that employers are paying serious attention to the FCP, each employer is required to submit to the government an annual report of results and future plans. In addition, the branch of government responsible for the FCP undertakes random audits of employers. Any employer found making inadequate progress may lose access to government grants, aids and contracts.

It may further interest India's industry leaders and analysts to know that employment equity, and other similar strategies to respond to the country's diversity, have gained widespread acceptance as being a business necessity. Industry giants such as Bell Telecommunications, Royal Bank of Canada, and Federal Express practice employment equity because, as compared to the archaic `old boys' network' it gives them access to a wider pool of qualified people who bring with them a variety of expertise, experience and skills, and thus enhances the organisations' productivity and competitiveness.

It is time India's industry leaders gave up their knee-Jerk reaction to an initiative that may actually help them. Equitable employment practices are not just moral, ethical or political imperatives. They have a sound business rationale. Only, the adherents of neo-conservative ideology refuse to see this rationale. In fact, the followers of this blinkered ideology have produced absolutely no objective data to prove that their fear-mongering about equitable employment practices has any validity.

It is sad that India's industry leaders are parroting the unproven objections of these American neo-conservative ideologues as though it were gospel truth. Yet, regrettably, they seem to have swallowed the neo-conservative line unquestioningly.

It was precisely due to this that the so-called Blue Ribbon Committee set up by the former Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vaipayee, recommended the dismantling of all protections given in the labour law to the most vulnerable and marginalised segments of the workers. A majority of these workers belong to the very communities whose access to jobs the Common Minimum Programme of the Congress-led United Progress Alliance government now seeks to promote.

Will these industry leaders refuse to these workers the very benefits that their own sons and daughters would enjoy under the FCP, were they to come to Canada? Or, is there a business case for the employment opportunities of forward community NRIs in Canada, but not for the SC/ST/OBC worker of India?

(The author, a former Vice-Chair and Acting Chief Commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission, is a Toronto-based consultant on employment equity, organisation change and human rights.)