The Hindu : Govt. urged to hold tripartite talks on labour panel recommendations

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Nov 11, 2002

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Govt. urged to hold tripartite talks on labour panel recommendations

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI Nov. 10. A two-day seminar on unorganised sector, organised by the V.V. Giri National Labour Institute, has asked the Government to hold tripartite dialogue before drawing up any plan of action on the recommendations of the Second National Commission on Labour.

The conclusions, arrived by the group on umbrella legislation for the unorganised sector, according to the Centre of Indian Trade Union (CITU), reiterated that legislative provision for minimum wages should be made in the light of the recommendations of the 15th session of the Indian Labour Conference and the Apex Court ruling in the Raptakos Brett Case.

The CITU said in a statement that the participants deplored the Commission report, which was at variance with the recommendations of the study group constituted by the panel itself.

They also opposed the concept of floor level wages and insisted that a national minimum wage should be determined and any State-level minimum wage should not be less than it.

The seminar recommended extension of Employees State Insurance and Provident Fund schemes to the unorganised sector as well and social security schemes should address health, maternity benefit, disability and old age income security concerns.

There was unanimity that agricultural workers should not generally be clubbed with the unorganised sector but a separate national-level legislation enacted for their benefit covering workers in farming, horticulture, sericulture and other related sectors.

Since the unorganised sector comprised 92 per cent of the working population, there was consensus that both the Central and the State Governments should contribute a certain proportion of their revenues, besides levying cess from the employers, for extending welfare and social security benefits to these workers.

Employers' associations and the central trade unions should be given equal representation on the tripartite bodies relating to the unorganised sector.

Their participation should be ensured in the process of formulation and preparation of schemes for the benefit of organised sector.

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