Dear Friends,
Once again the drums of labour reforms are beating. It is not new for us. The country has witnessed such orchestra earlier also. There have been two labour commissions and their reports are gathering dust somewhere in Govt. Corridors. Many proposals, conferences recommendations, Bills and reports at different Govt. level are discussed, prepared and died of their natural death during last three decades. Perhaps, these are the only laws which got the stroke from political inaction thus almost remained same or if amended were low on impact and high on cosmetic value.
With the new Govt. in center, employers have again pushed the agenda of labour reforms. It has been linked with employment and economic growth. It is stated that the the root cause of unemployment and slow economy is the obsolete labour laws which have not been amended according to changing times. Employers want free hand in doing their business with hire and fire policy and less regulation. On the other hand workers bodies contest that the problem is not with labour laws which have been painted as archaic or outdated but with the ineffective enforcement and non compliance attitude of employers. They fear that if the reforms, as demanded by employers, are carried out, there will be increase in unemployment and workers will lose bargaining power.
In spite of having two opposite opinions Central Govt. have initiated a small move to amend the laws but not as a whole.
We firmly believe that patch work in this direction will not work rather harm the environment now. Reforms need to be radical. And these should be three fold; legislative, administrative and judicial. There are experiences that legislative reforms in the absence of administrative and judicial reforms have not worked and brought changes in the society as expected. Legislative changes should bring uniformity in various definitions in different laws. Laws should be as minimum as possible towards simplification away from ambiguity. Provisions which have become redundant should be repealed simultaneously from all laws. The changes should strike a fine balance between workers rights, social security, health, safety and growth with opportunities of more employment.
Administrative reforms should be directed towards changing mindset of labour authorities to understand the cause of conflicts between the two pragmatically and clothed with more powers to diffuse the tension and unrest. Judicial reforms should be directed towards creating a mechanism where industrial disputes are settled /adjudicated within few months or at least within a year in the form of summary proceedings. It will certainly influence the employers and workers to resist from indulging in confrontation and encourage to move from conflict to cooperation.
Cover story on Labour reforms is a fine and well researched pack of experts views on the subject and different laws which need reforms.
regds,
Anil Kaushik
Chief Editor,Business Manager-HR magazine
B-138, Ambedkar Nagar, Alwar-301001 (Raj.)
Business Manager :: HR Magazine
From India, Delhi
181Once again the drums of labour reforms are beating. It is not new for us. The country has witnessed such orchestra earlier also. There have been two labour commissions and their reports are gathering dust somewhere in Govt. Corridors. Many proposals, conferences recommendations, Bills and reports at different Govt. level are discussed, prepared and died of their natural death during last three decades. Perhaps, these are the only laws which got the stroke from political inaction thus almost remained same or if amended were low on impact and high on cosmetic value.
With the new Govt. in center, employers have again pushed the agenda of labour reforms. It has been linked with employment and economic growth. It is stated that the the root cause of unemployment and slow economy is the obsolete labour laws which have not been amended according to changing times. Employers want free hand in doing their business with hire and fire policy and less regulation. On the other hand workers bodies contest that the problem is not with labour laws which have been painted as archaic or outdated but with the ineffective enforcement and non compliance attitude of employers. They fear that if the reforms, as demanded by employers, are carried out, there will be increase in unemployment and workers will lose bargaining power.
In spite of having two opposite opinions Central Govt. have initiated a small move to amend the laws but not as a whole.
We firmly believe that patch work in this direction will not work rather harm the environment now. Reforms need to be radical. And these should be three fold; legislative, administrative and judicial. There are experiences that legislative reforms in the absence of administrative and judicial reforms have not worked and brought changes in the society as expected. Legislative changes should bring uniformity in various definitions in different laws. Laws should be as minimum as possible towards simplification away from ambiguity. Provisions which have become redundant should be repealed simultaneously from all laws. The changes should strike a fine balance between workers rights, social security, health, safety and growth with opportunities of more employment.
Administrative reforms should be directed towards changing mindset of labour authorities to understand the cause of conflicts between the two pragmatically and clothed with more powers to diffuse the tension and unrest. Judicial reforms should be directed towards creating a mechanism where industrial disputes are settled /adjudicated within few months or at least within a year in the form of summary proceedings. It will certainly influence the employers and workers to resist from indulging in confrontation and encourage to move from conflict to cooperation.
Cover story on Labour reforms is a fine and well researched pack of experts views on the subject and different laws which need reforms.
regds,
Anil Kaushik
Chief Editor,Business Manager-HR magazine
B-138, Ambedkar Nagar, Alwar-301001 (Raj.)
Business Manager :: HR Magazine
From India, Delhi
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Panel to rework Factories Act in a step towards labour reforms.pdf
Labour Law Reforms.doc