The Labour Ministry plans to hold a tripartite meeting with managements of jute industry and trade unions in July. This will be followed by such meetings in other industry segments.

This was part of the discussions that the Labour Minister Narendra Singh Tomar had on Tuesday with representatives of central trade unions such as BJP-backed Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, Congress-backed INTUC and the Left-backed CITU and AITUC, among others.

The move to begin with the jute industry follows the recent lynching to death of a top jute mill official in West Bengal, allegedly by some workers. The Minister said he would take steps to revive the practice of holding regular tripartite meetings, a practice that had almost been abandoned by the UPA-II Government.

PF ceiling Tomar also assured unions that the decision to implement ₹1,000 minimum monthly pension and higher monthly provident fund wage ceiling of ₹15,000 would be announced within two weeks. Both these decisions were approved by the UPA-II Cabinet in February.

“We highlighted our 10-point demand charter which has been pending for long. The UPA Government had even set up a Group of Ministers to look into these demands, but nothing happened.

Today’s meeting was very positive and the Minister assured us that he will soon call a meeting to discuss these demands,” Baij Nath Rai, General Secretary, BMS, told Business Line .

The trade unions’ demands include inflation-linked minimum wages, check on price rise, investment in infrastructure to create jobs, strengthening of public sector units, among others.

Labour laws Rai said the trade unions cautioned the Minister against ‘unilateral’ amendments in labour laws. “We will oppose unilateral amendments tooth and nail. This is not a good trend. Amendments should be done only after consensus,” Rai said.

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