Cabinet approves proposal to amend labour laws: Narendra Singh Tomar

NEW DELHI: Union Cabinet has approved proposals to amend three labour laws including the Factories Act to make them more compatible and beneficial for labourers and the government is likely to table it in the present session of the Parliament, Union Labour Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said today.

"Cabinet has given its approval (for the amendments). The amendments would be beneficial for the labourers. We expect that it will be tabled in the present session of Parliament," Tomar said.

The other two proposals which were cleared by the cabinet which met yesterday include amendment of the Apprentices Act, 1961 and the Labour Laws (exemption from furnishing returns and maintaining registers by certain establishments) Act, 1988.

It is learnt that the amendments to the Factories Act, 1948 would have provisions for adeqaute safety for women working on night shift and provided transport after work. Some of the other proposed changes in the Act include improved safety of workers, doubling the provision of overtime from 50 hours a quarter to 100 hours in some cases and from 75 hours to 125 hours in other work of public interest and others.

Minister of State Labour and Employment Vishnu Deo Sai had also said that the amendment to the Factories Act was to make it more compatible to the requirement of the present scenario in industrial sector.

However, trade unions rued about this "unilateral approach" taken up by the government and said whatever reported amendments have been done, they did not have any knowledge about it and they also know it through the newspapers.

Sai had said that the amendment of Section 66 of the Act relates to permission for employment of women for night shift for a factory or group or class or description of factories with adequate safeguards for safety and provision of transportation till the doorstep of their residence.

With a move to provide more flexibility to companies who hire apprentices, the amendments to the Apprenticeship Act 1961 is expected to help in skill development and training. The move is aimed at providing flexibility to firms on hiring apprentices and removing restrictive clauses for employers.

"Some amendments the trade unions were demanding but we do not know what the government has finally done. On safety of workers and similar areas which newspapers have reports, there is no problem. This unilateral approach to this is condemnable," CITU president A K Padmanavan said.

"What the government wants to do technically and which are all the sections which are amended, it should have been discussed with the workers and trade unions. This is what we conveyed to labour minister when he called us that do not take unilateral decision. This unilateral position, we do not agree," he said.