Without the participation of Opposition members, the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday passed three crucial labour sector Bills which will influence lives and livelihood of millions of “blue collar “workers.
The new legislations will, among other things, allow a corporate to hire and fire “blue collared” workers at will.
The protesting MPs had written to Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu that the contentious Bills should not be passed “unilaterally. It will be a blot on democracy.” The labour Bills form part of the labour reforms move.
The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020, the Industrial Relations Code 2020 and the Code on Social Security, 2020 were earlier passed by the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. These Bills will now be sent for President Ram Nath Kovind’s assent and then they will become law.
Introducing the Bills in the Upper House, Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar said they will provide a “safe environment” for workers. “Social security benefits have also been added. This will be in sync with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s resolve for a universal social security,” he added.
“The Congress and like-minded parties held a march from the Gandhi statue to the Ambedkar statue on the Parliament premises protesting the “anti-farmers, anti-workers Bills that have been rubberstamped in Parliament in the most undemocratic manner by the Modi Government,” tweeted Jairam Ramesh.
The Government claims that Bills will bring in reforms to ensure easier compliance with labour standards worldwide. This, in turn, will help bring in foreign investment. Sixteen States have already increased the threshold for closure, lay off and retrenchment in firms with up to 300 workers without Government permission, the Minister said.
The Opposition and labour unions fear the Bills make it easier to lay off workers and put restrictions on their right to protest. The Industrial Relations Code Bill allows companies with up to 300 workers to lay off people without the State Government’s approval. So far, only companies employing up to 100 people were allowed to do this.
Under the same law, no industrial worker is allowed to go on strike without a 60-day notice. So far such rules were applicable on only those involved in public utility services like water, electricity, natural gas, telephone and other essential services. Workers in essential services are required to give a six-week notice before any strike.
The Code on Social Security Bill extends social security funds only to workers for app-based firms. But labour unions claim more is needed as these workers continue to remain in a legal grey zone. They are often treated as independent partners who are not covered under most labour regulations.
The Bill on health and occupational safety helps only those working in factories, mines and docks and are not universal in nature, contend the labour unions, which have joined hands with the farmers in their protest against the farm sector Bills that were passed on Sunday.
Gangwar also said there would a social security fund to cover around 40 crore unorganised sector workers. Over 29 labour laws have been merged into four codes and one (Code on Wages Bill, 2019) of them has already been passed, according to the Minister.
Meanwhile, the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday returned the Appropriation (No 3) Bill, 2020 and the Appropriation (No 4) Bill, 2020, authorising payment of certain sums from the Consolidated Fund of India for the current financial year. The Bills, which were passed by the Lok Sabha on September 19, were cleared in the Upper House with a voice vote and without any discussion. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman moved the Bills for consideration and passing.
The House also passed a Bill for inclusion of Kashmiri, Dogri and Hindi in the list of official languages in the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir, in addition to the existing Urdu and English. The Jammu and Kashmir Official Languages Bill, 2020 was passed by Rajya Sabha through voice vote. The Lok Sabha had cleared the legislation on Tuesday.
