46th SESSION OF I.L.C.
CONCLUDING SESSION OF 46TH I LC
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)
