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In a charter for labour law reforms submitted to the Labour Ministry recently, industry chamber FICCI has suggested shifting labour from the 'concurrent list' of the Constitution to the 'State list' to give State Governments “greater freedom in formulating labour policies to attract higher investments.”
Stating that employment grew only at an average of 1.6 per cent even as the economy grew at 8 per cent between 2000 and 2009, the Federation of Indian Chmaber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) outlined the need for regrouping close to 150 labour laws into four categories: Laws governing terms and conditions of employment, which may consolidate the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946 and the Trade Unions Act. 1926.
The second category could be laws governing wages, which may consolidate the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, Payment of Wages Act, 1936 and the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965, it suggested.
The third category of laws governing welfare may consolidate the Factories Act, 1948, Shops and Establishments Act, Maternity Benefits Act, 1961, Employees' Compensation Act, 1952 and Contract Labour (Regulation & Abolition) Act, 1970.
The fourth category could concern laws governing social security, by integrating the Employees Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952, Employees State Insurance Act, 1948 and the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972, the chamber said.
The FICCI paper also called for a uniform definition of 'employee', 'industry' and 'wages' across all labour legislations to minimise litigation.
To exclude employees in the higher salary bracket enjoying statutory protection, paper suggested that coverage of the Industrial Dispute Act should be confined to employees receiving salary only up to Rs 20,000/month.
The FICCI note also calls for adopting a uniform practice of serving 14 days compulsory notice in the case of both 'strike' and 'lockout'. “This provision right now exists only with regard to units engaged in 'public utility services',” it said, adding that the practice of ‘strike ballot’ by unions, adopted by developed countries, such as the UK, Germany, Australia etc, should be followed.
Taking a cue from the Rajasthan Government’s amendments to make hiring and firing easier, the industry lobby said requiring prior permission of the Government to effect rationalising measures like retrenchment, closure or lay-off, by a company employing more than 100 employees, as mandated by Chapter V-B of the ID Act, is a “retrograde step which has promoted industrial sickness.” It, therefore, called for enhancing this number to 300.
To provide flexibility to companies to engage contract workers, FICCI said due to abolition of contract labour from one operation to the other, industry was finding it difficult to engage extra hands to discharge short-term contracts, including export commitments, and suggested deletion of Section 10 of the Contract Labour (Regulation & Abolition) Act, 1970.
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