Workers can move to greener pastures but employers don’t have the freedom to get rid of a person who is unfit to work. How unfair is that?
Even as the Centre and State Governments are fully immersed in reviving the economy that got derailed by the Coronavirus outbreak, a new controversy has erupted, with trade union leaders being up in arms against the changes in the country’s labour laws.
What angered the trade union bosses was the move by the Shivraj Singh Chouhan Government to release some of the industries from the Madhya Pradesh Industrial Relations Act, 1961 and the Uttar Pradesh (UP) Government’s decision to give freedom to industrial and business establishments from the Minimum Wages Act, for a period of three years.
As a result of this, all trade union bosses, cutting across party affiliations, have joined hands and declared war against the Centre and the State Governments which were bold enough to modify the Labour Laws and Acts that govern employer-employee relations in the country.
Every 10 years, India witnesses the appointment of the Pay Commission by the Union Government to revise the salaries and perks of Central Government employees. Subsequently, the State exchequer spends a big fortune to implement the panel’s recommendations. This is followed by the State Government employees asking for matching hikes in their pays and perks. The question being asked is whether our Government employees (both in Central and State services) are worth the pay which they collect every month. Having been a Government employee for nearly 15 years, I feel that our babus get more than what they deserve. The corporate sector is no different. The management of our private sector firms is too considerate when it comes to the interests of the workers. And sadly, our employees live by the dictum “minimum work and maximum pay.”
I remember the day I joined Government service as a Class Three employee. The first person to welcome me after I submitted the joining report was MN Unni, a seasoned Government employee. He introduced me to the four “golden rules” of Government service. “Come to the office on time; leave after office hours; never say no to anybody and don’t do any work,” was his advice. He said the first two rules had to do with punctuality and played a major role in convincing the department head about a worker’s sincerity and dedication. “If the boss is convinced that you reach office on time and stay back till the working hours are over, you have won half the war”, said Unni.
The last two rules, “never say no to anybody and don’t do any work” reflect the mindset of our bureaucracy. “Nobody will ask whether you have completed the assignment you have been entrusted with as long as you never say no to them for anything”, was Unni’s mantra to survive the “hardship” of Government service.
Well, coming back to the present, launching a business or industrial enterprise and running it smoothly to the satisfaction of all have to be an art in today’s world. An author has the freedom to write whatever he feels like penning down, an artist has the independence to draw a painting of his choice (as long as it does not hurt anyone’s religious sentiments) and a historian is at liberty to push his conclusions even without proper validation. But an industrialist or entrepreneur has no such freedom and he is at the mercy of his employees.
A worker employed by a company has the freedom to move to greener pastures while his employer is not that fortunate, because he does not have the freedom to get rid of a person who is unfit, unskilled or unwilling to work. How unfair is that?
Many times I have asked US-based entrepreneurs why they are hesitant to set up shop in India. Their answer is nearly always the same. Our archaic labour laws and the outdated industrial Act prevent them from making any investment in the country.
“Once you open a business enterprise in India, you are in for major trouble. We cannot lock it down if the venture is a failure. We are bound by rules to pay salaries to workers irrespective of the fact whether we are working or not. It is impossible to wind up the operations in the country,” says a highly-successful Silicon Valley-based entrepreneur.
For the good of the country, there should be a law which makes it mandatory for trade union bosses to have worked in a factory/firm/farm and that too for a certain number of years. This is because only people who have worked somewhere know the true value of work.
Trade union leaders should never engage in union trade because this means they are dealing in something that is outside the purview of their understanding, experience and expertise.
(The writer is a senior journalist)
