Question

unorganized labor wage determination in Karnataka

Answer 1

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Karnataka government and industry bodies have been speaking of the need to relax labour laws in the context of COVID-19 pandemic. We, at AICCTU (All India Central Council of Trade Unions), believe that in the crisis caused by the pandemic, we must strengthen labour laws, not weaken them. We submitted a memorandum to the state government in this regard on May 15. We hope that the government will consider our demands seriously and initiate action quickly.

Government must strengthen labour laws to fight hunger and poverty, to build a secure society.

Government must discuss with all trade unions on how labour laws are to be strengthened.

The move to relax labour laws must be dropped immediately.

Answer 2

Karnataka government and industry bodies have been speaking of the need to relax labour laws in the context of COVID-19 pandemic. We, at AICCTU (All India Central Council of Trade Unions), believe that in the crisis caused by the pandemic, we must strengthen labour laws, not weaken them. We submitted a memorandum to the state government in this regard on May 15. We hope that the government will consider our demands seriously and initiate action quickly.

Government must strengthen labour laws to fight hunger and poverty, to build a secure society.

Government must discuss with all trade unions on how labour laws are to be strengthened.

The move to relax labour laws must be dropped immediately.

Need for strengthening labour laws

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Several crores of workers, especially daily wagers, unorganised sector workers and migrant workers, have been badly impacted by the lockdown. The failure to ensure the payment of wages, the lack of savings and proper social security benefits brought workers to a precarious condition.

As per a report of the International Labour Organisation, about 40 crore informal workers in India are at risk of falling deeper into poverty during the pandemic. In a pan-India survey conducted by Azim Premji University, two-thirds of respondents reported loss of employment, and half of salaried workers reported non-payment or reduction in salaries. Forty five per cent of the households did not have money to even buy a week’s worth of essentials, and 74% households were consuming less food than before. It is of the utmost importance that the laws protecting these workers are strengthened and their rights protected.

As regards migrant workers, a reason for their destitution during lockdown was that laws for their protection was not enforced, especially, the Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Condition of Service) Act, 1979. If this legislation had been implemented in letter and spirit, migrant workers would have been paid fair wages, guaranteed fair conditions of services and facilities as well as a journey allowance.

On May 7, we also witnessed three horrific industrial accidents – in Vishakhapatnam, Cuddalore and Raigarh – which resulted from failure to comply with the safety provisions in the Factories Act.

Various states across the country have chosen this time to dilute labour laws and increase working hours. Such a proposal would destroy the lives of workers and would, in fact, destroy the economy itself by drastically reducing purchasing power.

There appears to be discussions on increasing work hours from eight to 12. This would not only damage workers’ health, but would seriously hit the women workforce who would be unable to work extended hours.

Similarly, diluting labour laws such as the Industrial Disputes Act would only help the employer change service conditions and terminate workers arbitrarily, resulting in the dictatorship of the private employer. Similarly, reducing minimum wages would force the entire nation into a state of bonded labour.

On the other hand, strengthening of labour laws would provide security and safety to the workers and ensure that they have adequate purchasing power to allow for the growth of the economy.

In this context, we seek that the Karnataka government take the following steps:

Ensure strict enforcement of the Ministry of Home Affairs order dated 29th March, 2020: The order mandated that “All the employers, be it in the industry or in the shops and commercial establishments, shall make payment of wages of their workers, at their work places, on the Policy for Manual Scavengers” along the lines of the provisions of Part IV of the Act. The State Government must implement all the recommendations in the Report of the Committee constituted by the Hon’ble High Court in W.P. No. 30221/2009 (PIL) dated 28.03.2011.

Street Vendors: State Government must bring about a programme under Section 31 and 32 of the Street Vendors (Protection Of Livelihood And Regulation Of Street Vending) Act, 2014, to ensure protection of street vendors’ livelihood by making available interest-free credit, insurance and other social security schemes, including dovetailing it with the central government scheme for street vendors.

Construction Workers: A large number of inter-state and intra-state migrants are working in the construction sector. Laws should be strictly enforced to ensure fair working conditions and safe and dignified living conditions for them. Further, all workers are not registered under the Building and other Construction Workers’ (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996. Employers should be mandated to ensure that all construction workers are registered under the Act.

[This article is based on a press release from AICCTU, and has been published with edits.]