BMS opposes 240-day cap on earned leave

RSS-affiliated trade union BMS has urged the Centre to raise the limit of earned leave to 300 days from the present cap of 240 days in the draft rules for labour codes.

In a consultation meeting held by the Union Labour and Employment Ministry here on Tuesday on the draft Rules of Social Security Code rules and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code Rules, the union said that the leave cap of 240 days generally, 90 days for journalists and 120 days for sales representatives, is a great loss for those who have sacrificed their right for leave and worked for their employers.

“BMS objected to the omission in the draft Rules regarding certain important sectors. It demanded that separate Rules should be made for building and other construction workers, beedi workers, plantation workers, journalists and audio visual workers, cine workers, etc,” BMS general secretary Binay Kumar Sinha said.

He alleged that the proposed draft rules did not cover 80 per cent of the provisions in the Labour Codes passed by Parliament.

“Most of the power to make rules has been transferred to State governments, noted for lack of interest in labour matters,” he said.

The joint platform of about ten Central Trade Unions had earlier decided to boycott the meeting on draft rules.

Physical meeting urged

In a letter written to the Labour Minister they argued that the Centre failed to take cognisance of their demand for a physical meeting to discuss a serious matter with long-lasting adverse impact on the lives of more than 50 crore workers.

“We have been critical of adoption of labour codes by flouting all Parliamentary norms without discussion in absence of the entire opposition from Parliament and without tripartite consultations. Instead of taking our objections seriously, the government is trying to create a farce of tripartite consultations by setting up video conference when we know that physical meetings of the government at various levels are taking place, including the negotiations with farmers as well as the election preparation rallies in various States, etc,” the unions said.