In the wake of Maruti’s recent labour troubles and our national ambition to be a leading industrial and a developed nation, it is everybody’s interest that industrial relations in the country should not only be harmonious but also should be based on the principles of justice equity and good conscience. In this perspective, Dr. Upadhyaya of V.V. Giri National Labour Institute revisits the issues and concerns therein
For quite some time, regular employment is being substituted by contract employment at a very fast pace. The matter of concern is that majority of the contract workers not only work for excessively long hours and at very low wages as compared to the workers doing similar work with a permanent status, but also denied any social security and fringe benefits like provident fund, health insurance, gratuity and leave with pay etc. An overwhelming proportion of these workers are practically excluded from the purview of many of the major labour laws. Levels of organising among them are very low and hence they lack bargaining power to improve their conditions of work.
In India, several legislative measures have been provided under different labour enactments like Employees Compensation Act, 1923; Payment of Wages Act, 1936; Minimum Wages Act, 1948; Factories Act, 1948; Plantation Labour Act, 1951; Mines Act, 1952; Maternity Benefit Act, 1965; Equal Remuneration Act, 1976; Inter State Migrant Workmen’s Act, 1979; and Building and other Construction Workers’ Act, 1996 to cover different categories of workers, including contract labour.
Apart from these provisions, a specific law, Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition Act), 1970, was enacted to deal with specific issues related to contract labour. This Act seeks to regulate the employment of contract labour in certain establishments and provide for its abolition in certain circumstances subject to fulfillment of certain conditions.
The Act applies to establishments and contractors employing 20 or more than 20 contract workers. It further empowers the government to apply the Act to establishments with a lesser number. An employer intending to engage 20 or more contract workers has to obtain a registration and a contractor who intends to engage 20 or more contract workers has to obtain a license from the labour department. The obtaining of registration and licence cast a number of obligations with respect to contract workers in terms of wages, conditions of work and basic amenities provided to contract workers.
The Act does not intend to abolish contract labour in its entirety but only in certain specified situations (as provided under section 10 of the Act). The relevant factors to be kept in mind while issuing the notification for abolition of contract labour are: whether the process, the operation or other work is essential for the industry, trade or business in question; whether the work is of sufficient duration having regard to the industry, trade, business under consideration; whether the work in question is ordinarily performed by regular workers in that establishment or similar establishments and whether the work in question is sufficient to employ considerable number of whole time workers
The power to abolish the contract labour system vests with the government. In situations where the abolition of contract labour is not feasible, the law provides for its regulation. The regulatory part of the Act also provides for suspension and revocation of licence in case of denial of the basic minimum amenities to contract labour, as provided in the licence and violation of other conditions as laid down in the licence.
To cover the basic health and welfare aspects of contract labour, the Act empowers the government to make rules with regard to providing canteens, rest rooms, first-aid-facilities and wholesome drinking water etc. As per the Act, if the contractor fails in paying notified minimum wage and in providing various amenities to contract labour, it becomes the responsibility of the employer to provide all these things. The rules attached with the Act also provide that if the work performed by contract labour is similar to the work of the employees of the employer, the wages, hours of work, and other conditions of contract labour have to be similar to those of the direct employees of the employer.
Most of the contract workers for whom a number of provisions have been made under different labour laws including the contract labour act, are not aware of these provisions. Since the CL(R&A) Act puts a ceiling of minimum 20 contract workers for the purpose of coverage under the Act, there is a tendency among the employers and the contractors to split the contracts into smaller contracts to evade the provisions of law. The various penalties provided under the Act are not deterrent in nature and hinder the effective enforcement.
A review of laws internationally subject reveal that they either seek to ban the contract labour altogether or more commonly to regulate its practices with a view to eliminating the abuses with which it is generally associated. In many countries, legislations have aimed to provide the contract labour with the standard of protection and social benefits similar to directly recruited workers.
Indian law is silent with regard to the absorption of contract labour after its abolition in any particular occupation(s), industry/industries etc. Since most of the contract workers are mobile and feel quite insecure in terms of job security, they find it extremely difficult to be organised in strong trade unions and fail in getting most of their legitimate dues under various labour laws and it is time something must be done about it.
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