Cabinet approval to Unorganised Workers' Bill likely this week

NEW DELHI: The Unorganised Sector Workers’ Bill, 2003, is likely to come up before the Union Cabinet for consideration and approval this week. The Bill, smooth passage of which is expected to score many brownie points for the government on the labour front, was okayed by the law ministry recently as part of the process to clear the decks for its introduction in the monsoon session of Parliament. In addition to this, the labour ministry is ready to palce draft amendments to the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, and the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970 before Parliament in the monsoon session.
The Unorganised Sector Workers’ Bill is considered the least controversial of the rationalised legislations planned by the labour ministry in its bid to ring in labour reforms. However, it is understood that the law ministry has made some changes in this bill, too, in preparation for its introduction in Parliament. Although political consensus, so hard to come by, has reinforced the politically correct bill favouring social security for unorganised workers, the provisions industry contributing to the social welfare of the workers’ Fund towards securing medical care, employment injury benefit, old age benefit including pension, survivors’ benefit etc did not find the unalloyed support of employers.
The bill provides for contributions to be paid by both the beneficiaries and the employers to the Fund, as prescribed by state and central level notification in the official gazette. Different rates of contribution are to specified for beneficiaries in different employers until the former reaches age 60. Registration of workers as beneficiaries would be done through social security cards. Those who forego contribution will not be beneficiaries. On the flip side, employers who contravene the provisions of the proposed legislation would be liable to six months imprisonment or with a Rs 1,000 fine, or both.
Amendments to the Contract Labour Act and the Industrial Disputes Act, however, continue to pose the stiffest challenge to pro active labour minister Sahib Singh Verma. He was given go ahead by Cabinet but strong political opposition forced the government to put the amendments in cold storage. Subsequently, Mr Verma, in the course of intensive interaction with TUs and employers, claimed some sort of consensus last year on the amendments to the Industrial Disputes Act, with both sides agreeing on a 300 employees limit for not seeking permission from the government for closure. The optimism proved to be premature and Mr Verma failed to keep his date with even the winter session of Parliament. Amendments to the Contract Labour Act were expected to be sealed and approved by the relevant GoM in March — under the chairmanship of Planning Commission deputy chairman K C Pant — on the strength of the draft amendments prepared by the labour ministry. It was decided that the government would move an amendment bill to modify the 1970 Act rather than introduce a fresh bill.