Dear Comrades,
Concluding Session of 46th ILC
The
46th session of India Labour Conference concluded Yesterday at
Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi where the recommendations and conclusions were adopted
on 5 chosen agenda items after the at length tripartite deliberations which
lasted 2 days.
In
his concluding remarks, the chairman of the ILC and Labour and Employment Minister
of state (Independent Charge) , Shri Bandaru Dattatreya reiterated his
Governments commitment to reform process with tripartite consensus to promote
the employment generation at a massive scale particularly for the aspiring
youth population of this country.
The
consensus conclusions/recommendations on each of the agenda items are
reproduced here:
Implementation
of the conclusions/ recommendations of the 43rd, 44th and
45th Indian labour conference, particularly on contract labour,
Minimum wages and scheme workers and tripartite mechanism Conclusions of the
committee are as follows:-
The
committee debated the recommendations of the 43rd, 44th
and 45th Indian labour conference at length and expressed its
concern over non-implementation of the conclusions, particularly on contract
labour, Minimum wages, scheme workers and tripartism. It was therefore
unanimously recommended that concrete measures should be undertaken to
expeditiously implement the recommendations in letter and spirit. Periodic
reviews should be undertaken by the stakeholders.
Recommendations
of conference committee on “social security for organized, unorganized and
migrant International workers”
There
was an in-principle agreement for coverage of all workers organized as well as
unorganized under social security with support wage by Government, if required,
for providing decent living conditions. The committee recommended that:
I.
Mechanism
for identification and registration of unorganized workers should be provided.
Special drive should be launched for the said purpose and, if required, direct
registration by the Government.
II.
Schemes
for organized/ unorganized workers should be made efficient.
III.
Budgetary
provisions should be made for those unorganized workers who are not covered
under any specific social security scheme.
IV.
The
cost of registration of unorganized workers should be borne by the Central/
State Government.
V.
There
should be proper utilization of fund collected through building construction
cess and administrative expensed should not be for what is not stipulated.
VI.
The Anganwadi/
Asha/ Mid-day meal and other such workers, the committee reiterated that they
should be extended coverage under ESI/ EPF.
VII.
As
regards ESIC, the following recommendations were given:-
a.
ESIC
to expand to cover all states/ UTs. All districts where scheme is running at
present should be covered fully/
b.
The
ESIC scheme to be expanded to unorganized sector by reducing the threshold form
present 10. Self employed should be provided medical benefit, in phases.
c.
The
ESIC should directly run the health services in all the states. Stated should
not be asked to bear the cost of Medical expenses.
d.
Medical
Facilities should be expanded at a fast pace; establishments of hospitals and
dispensaries should be decided based on geographical necessity.
e.
All
construction workers should be covered under ESI.
f.
ESI
coverage for round the clock for medical benefit.
VIII. As
regards EPF, recommendations were:-
a.
Medical
Scheme to EPS pensioners from the surplus Corpus of EDLI Scheme.
b.
Extension
of coverage by reducing threshold form 20 to 10. ‘Member of LUB opposed this’
c.
Coverage
of both inter-state and international migrant workers under EPF Act.
d.
EPF
pension should be enhanced and linked with price index.
IX.
Wages definition should be uniform for all labour laws.
X. There
should be a mechanism so that employers can deposit social security
contributions at single window.
XI. For
construction workers, there should be a single contribution from employer.
XII. Implementation
of the decisions taken by 43rd, 44th and 45th
ILC with regard to Social Security.
However,
on the point of optional schemes for ESI & EPF, the employee’s
representatives strongly opposed whereas the employers representatives were of
the view that options should be available.
Removal
of Conditions on payment Ceiling eligibility Limits, Decisions to pay Minimum Bonus
without linking to loss when the performance indicator satisfy grant of bonus-
The major conclusions emanating from the discussions in the committee are as
follows:
The
Conference committee on amendment of Bonus Act – Removal of Conditions on Payment
Ceiling, Eligibility Limits. Decisions to pay Minimum Bonus without linking to
loss when the performance indicator satisfy grant of bonus constituted to
discuss the Agenda item No. 3 of 46th session of the Indian Labour
Conference met under the chairmanship of Captain Abhimanyu, Minister of Labour,
Govt. of Haryana. Shri Om Prakash Mittal, General Secretary, Laghu Udyog Bharti
(LUB) and Ms. Meenakshi Gupta and Mr. B.B. Mallick, Joint Secretary, MoLE
respectively were the Vice-Cheirman and Member Secretary of the Committee. The
Committee had the representation of all the stake-holders (Workers’ Group,
Employers’ Group and State Government).
2. At
the very outset, the chairman of the committee welcomed all the
representatives. He observed that the issue of bonus has been pending for long.
He expressed the hope that all the partners would understand and appreciate the
position of each other and give recommendations keeping in the view the larger
national interest. The Vice-Chairman also welcomed all the Members. Thereafter,
the Member Secretary introduced the subject. The agenda has following 3
issues:-
(i).
Removal
of calculation ceiling;
(ii).
Removal
of Eligibility Limit; and
(iii).
Decisions
to pay Minimum Bonus without Linking to loss when the performance indicator
satisfy grant of bonus.
3.
It was mentioned that last revision in the limits (Calculation Ceiling – Rs.
3500 and Eligibility Limit-RS. 10,000) was done in 2007 based on the
recommendations of the 41st ILC.
4. The
committee had very intense detailed discussions on all the aspects of the
Agenda Item no. 3.
(i). The Trade
Unions were of the view that all the ceilings under the payment of Bonus Act.
1965 i.e. eligibility ceiling, calculation ceiling and maximum percent of bonus
payable need to be removed. They further expressed that they would like to
reiterate the stand taken by them in the tripartite meeting held on 20 October,
2014.
(ii).
The
Employers, representatives were of the view that total removal of various
ceilings may lead to spurt in industrial relation issues. They observed that
while making any change in the payment of Bonus Act, 1965 productivity of the
workers and paying capacity of the employers have to be taken into account.
They further observed that they are not in favour of indexation of cost of
living for the purpose of ceiling and bonus calculation. The term ‘Employee’
should be substituted by the term ‘workman’ as defined under the industrial
disputes Act. The present system of prescribing limits both for eligibility and
calculation should be retained.
(iii).
The
State Government representatives were of the view that minimum, limit of bonus
(8.33%) may continue. Regarding limits with regard to calculation and payment
ceiling it was stated that they had no comments to offer. They further observed
that distinction between statutory bonus and productivity linked bonus is quite
relevant in this regard.
(iv).
The
State Government representatives also suggested that the central Government may
consider notifying the limits for eligibility of bonus and calculation of bonus
through and administrative process based on tripartite mechanism rather then
legislative process every time. Appropriate amendment to the payment of Bonus
Act, 1965 may have to be carried out accordingly.
Labour laws Amendments
proposed/ done by central or State Governments Conclusions of the committee are
as follows:-
1. The
committee reiterates historical role of tripartite mechanism functioning in the
country before any enactment/ amendment of labour laws.
2. Any
labour law amendments/ enactment should take into account three purpose namely:
(i). Rights and welfare of
workers;
(ii).
Sustainability
of enterprises and job creation; and
(iii).
Industrial
peace.
3. The
labour laws need to be relooked and updated in a time bound manner.
4. Committee
recommends that the overall exercise of the labour law amendments should be
discussed in the tripartite forum and the broad and specific proposals should
also be discussed in tripartite meetings.
Recommendations
of committee on “Employment and Employment Generation” of 46 the Indian Labour
conference (ILC) are as follows:-
1.
The
committee noted that the recommendations of 43rd to 45th
ILC on Employment & Employability need to be fully implemented.
2.
Recognising
the employment potential in micro and small industry, especially in rural
areas, an effective single-window system be established to promoted agro-based
and micro & small industries with facility like concessional finance etc. A
system for centralized marketing of products manufactured by these industries
can also be developed.
3.
Enhance
the outlays and threshold for public employment generation programmes in both
rural and urban areas.
4.
Fill
up vacant posts in Central Government, State Governments and Public Sector
Undertakings in a time bound manner.
5.
Reiterate
the necessity for publishing quarterly employment and unemployment data.
6.
With
Central and State Government moving to on-line systems for employment exchanges
there is a need for capacity building of Employment Exchanges officers for
their revised roles under National Career Service (NCS). Need for integration
of Central and State IT initiatives to avoid duplication.
7.
Utilization
of idle capacity in Vocational and Educational Institutions and closed/ sick
industry for demand responsive training.
8.
Enhance
and expand areas for Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) with effective
assessment.
9.
Enhance
number and improve quality of assessors for vocational training and consider
including ITI faculty for assessments.
10. To identify labour-intensive
industries and new areas where jobs can be created like renewable energy and
reusable resources etc. and providing employment liked training.
11. Evolve strategies for
increasing female workforce participation in both public and private
employment.
YSK/Uma
(Release ID :123527)
