the vicissitude of the share
markets-based on share specu-
lation.
The draft of industrial relations
code - a combination of Trade
union Act, Industrial Disputes Act
and standing orders act - had,
instead of protecting the workers’
rights to organize, to joint
bargaining, to strike and to protect
them from victimisation of
employers, for their political and
trade union beliefs, made formation
of trade unions much more complex
and conducting strikes impossible
on any account. “Strike” is made
as a serious crime to be meted with
harsh punishments.
The draft code on social
security, relieved the government
from its responsibility relegating it
to the vile of insurance sector the
most of which is operated by private
companies with the exclusive matter
of making profits and super-profits.
On the other hand this code moots
to centralize all the cess funds
collected for the workers welfare by
the state governments such as
‘construction workers welfare cess’
etc in to the hands of the Central
government and to manage them.
There is no mandatory condition for
the payment of contribution by the
employers or governments on their
part along with the workers for the
intended social welfare insurances.
In the western countries when
a worker loses his job he is being
paid with compensation by the
employers. No such arrangement
is available in the labour code.
Draft code of workers safety,
(occupational) health and working
conditions merely specifies duties
of an employer to ensure that
employees do not face hazards at
their work places and prescribes
the employer to ensure periodical
medical examination and tests, and
to provide and maintain as far as
‘reasonably practicable’ a working
environment that is safe and
without risk to health of employees.
It mandates the companies to
constitute a safety committee. It
August - 2018
also proposed setting up of a
national, occupational safety and
health advisory board to advise the
government on matters relating to
the code. The draft proposed
‘facilitators’ (not inspectors) to
ensure that code is being adhered
to at work places. Nothing definitely
is mentioned about compensation
in case of work-place accidents to
the victim workers and punishment
to the employers who do not
adhere to the code. The periodical
medical examination reports of
workers will be used against the
workers to the detriment of their
interests. Instead of providing
suitable medical care and rest with
pay, the employer ’s who are
implementing the policy of ‘cutting
costs’ to the company and
becoming more productive’ auto-
matically choose to terminate the
workers on the ground of ‘medical
unfitness’ instead of admitting such
an unfitness was caused by
occupational
illness/hazard
disabled and workers killed in work-
place accidents will be left
unattended and without consi-
derable compensation on the
grounds of negligence and non-
adherence to safety regulations as
had occurred in the case of Bhopal
disaster. We already know how the
‘work committees’ were made
ineffective and false in bringing out
any amelioration to the ever
deteriorating work-conditions and
ever increasing work-load of
workers. We are also seeing the
farce of tripartite forums like ‘Indian
Labour Conference’ which were not
even attended by the Prime
Ministers due to ‘lack of time’ at
least to conform with the rules of
formality. In the wake of these
experiences how can anyone
expect that the employers and the
Central government adhere to the
provisions of the code? While the
factory inspectors themselves were
made ineffective and failed in
regulating and implementing
concerned safety laws and their
stipulation, can anyone including a
layman expect a ‘facilitator’ could
make the employer adhere to the
prescriptions of the safety code?
The question is not of lacking any
laws but their implementation.
Every day hundreds of workers are
being killed in workplace accidents
due to the criminal negligence of
employers in providing safety gear
and following the safety norms and
regulations to cut their costs. This
code has nothing to contain and
arrest these man-made accidents
averting the killing of the workers.
The Code of Wages assumes
a single national floor for wages. It
is unknown whether the minimum
wage formula is fixed based on the
recommendations of the I.L.C.1957
of the past or whether ‘the units for
calculating the minimum wages for
a family are increased from three
to six’ as recommended by the
B.M.S. It is also unknown whether
the cabinet cleared new code
mandates on equal pay to equal
work irrespective of the gender or
the status of worker as contract,
casual, contingent, out-sourcing
worker etc. There is every chance
to assume that this draft code is
modeled on the recommendation
of U.B.I formula prescribed by the
World Bank, that undo the principle
of social security and welfare and
replaces with ‘social insurance’
principle.
Such has been the essence
of cabinet approved labour codes
that have not enhanced even an
iota of hope in the betterment of
living and working condition of the
workers.
The rulers and ruling-classes
have brazenly come out to the fore
in doing away the available legal
rights, protections and entitlements
of workers of the country to the
benefit of big-capital and
employers with the lone
consideration of making our
country more attractive for invest-
ments (foreign) and providing an
easy atmosphere for doing
business to the employers at the
cost of the workers and their
interests.
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