If the country's trade unions expected progress on the vexed question of a minimum wage guarantee at the 44th Indian Labour Conference, their hopes may have been dashed by the United Progressive Alliance government. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's inaugural address last week made no mention of implementing a National Floor Level Minimum Wage (NFLMW). Never mind that the application of the 1948 law to all establishments irrespective of the number of workers engaged was uppermost on the conference agenda. The current NFLMW fixed by the Centre in April 2011 is Rs.115 a day. But under the 1948 law, States are free to set their own minimum. As a result, the rates range from a maximum of Rs.203 a day in the National Capital Region of Delhi, to a meagre 68.96 in Andhra Pradesh as on March 2011. Significantly, as many as 21 States still fall below the national minimum, whereas 14 pay wages above that amount. Amendments to the Minimum Wages Act are thus critical to a guaranteed subsistence income for millions of unskilled labourers, including women, who fall well below the standard human development indicators.
Similarly, the Prime Minister's statements on social security for employees amount to an endorsement of the erroneous view that the protections currently available to the organised sector are coming in the way of job creation. “We must periodically take a critical look [at] whether our regulatory framework has some parts which unnecessarily hamper the growth of employment, enterprise and industry without really contributing significantly to labour welfare,” said Dr. Singh. There is a particularly hollow ring to these remarks made in the context of a country where employment in the organised sector constitutes barely seven per cent of the total workforce. Implicit in this is the reasoning that expenditure on the workforce is a burden, rather than a necessary investment to enhance value and raise the productivity of enterprises. It is necessary to emphasise here that in countries that have embarked upon the deregulation of labour markets, social and welfare protection mechanisms exist which provide a society-wide cushion to the unemployed or indigent. Moreover, attempts to dismantle these protections have met with strong public protests, particularly in Europe. India's trade unions have had a considerable and highly constructive presence in the banking, insurance and telecommunications industries in the public sector for some decades now. While they have time and again opposed the divestment of government stakes in these enterprises, an inability to organise the workforce in the information and communications technology sector has been a singular failure. It is time the concerns of this segment were also addressed.
