Continuing job-loss of workers, violation of labor related laws and disinvestment of shares of public sector units are some of the issues that agitated trade unions around the country for some-time now . These issues have aggravated with liberalization policies pursued by the central and state governments, for the last two decades.
Economic Survey 2008-09 and Union Budget 2009-10, demonstrate how the burning issue of job losses--involving retrenchment, layoffs, redundancy--in the time of the global financial crisis and economic slow-down, is perhaps the least understood of the economic, social and political concerns.
“The Global Economic Crisis: Assessing Vulnerability with a Poverty Lens,” counts India among countries that have a “high exposure” to increased risk of poverty due to the global economic downturn.
One of the most significant attack of industry has been on employment tenure. With the decline in tenured employment, came a decline in trade union strength. A major casualty of this resulted in an attack on the right to collective bargaining. Instances of refusal by employers to negotiate with unions, or even recognize unions, chosen by workers, are extensive and range from large Indian corporates to MNCs.
International Labour Organisation’s(ILO) World of Work Report records that from 1990 onwards, wage inequality has risen across the globe including in India. It was also a period when contract employment became the norm. Legislation for abolishment of contract employment stands diluted. Projections by the ILO point to a worsening global unemployment in coming years.
How neo-liberal policies have affected the industrial relations(IR) climate in the country can be had from the gruesome killing of of Lalit Choudhary Cheif Executive Officer and Managing Director of Graziano Transmission India Pvt.Ltd. in September 2008, allegedly by dismissed employees and the more recent murder of the VP--HR of Pricol, Joy George, under similar circumstances in September 2009, and a spate of other IR incidents in many of the manufacturing belts across the country.
The International Trade Union Confederation(ITUC) in its annual survey on violations of trade union rights in India observed that "Barriers to organize trade unions continued in law and practice, and the government maintained strong restrictions on the right to strike. Workers at two garment factories faced a systematic anti-union campaign, while Unilever closed down a factory to remove the union. The government remains committed to a policy of creating greater flexibility in labor law which would be detrimental to workers and their unions."
Under the 2001 Trade Unions Act, a union has to represent a minimum of 100 workers--which is excessive by international standards--or ten per cent of the workforce, whichever is less. The act also sets limits on the number of "outsiders" (those not employed at the enterprise) allowed to sit on a union executive and requires unions to submit their accounts for auditing.
Under the 1947 Industrial Disputes Act(IDA), industry workers in public utilities have to announce a strike at least 14 days in advance. Workers in the banking industry have to give five six months' notice before going on strike. The industry has been declared a public utility under the IDA. The Essential Services Maintenance Act(ESMA) enables the government to ban strikes and demand conciliation or arbitration in certain "essential" industries. The Central Civil Services(Conduct)Rule, 1964, stipulates that no government servant shall resort to, or in any way abet, any form of strike.
The ITUC survey has pointed out that the government has aimed for a number of years to create a more flexible labor market in which employers could hire and fire employees at will and easily hire workers on contracts. The Ministry of Labor drafted amendments to the labor laws in 2003, and in 2005, developed a policy proposal entitled "Making Labor Markets Flexible " to explain its initiative. The Ministry also recommended that export oriented activities, including those in special economic zones, and support services for those zones, should be on the list, which would make contract labour available for these sectors. The proposal to raise the threshold(from 100 workers to 300 workers) of the size of enterprises that do not need government permission to lay off workers, also invited strident opposition of India's trade unions.
Investigations by labor rights organizations based in Bangalore, discovered a pattern of systematic and grave abuses of workers' rights at two ready-made garments exports units. Workers were not allowed to form unions, and were intimated to prevent them from engaging in any collective activity to stand up for their rights. In clear contravention of the labor laws, workers were employed without written contracts. In response to these abuses, international campaigners led by Clean Clothes Campaign and its Netherlands national affiliate, raised concerns with European and North American brands. The factories set up a management-run grievance committee but refused to recognize the workers rights to freely associate with unions or other groups to seek assistance.
New employment sectors such as call centers, the visual media and telecommunications are not covered by any explicit employment regulations and employers obstruct the formation of unions. High level of casual employment were built into the structure of the call centre/business process outsourcing(BPO) industry, affecting many of the approximately 400000 of these workers in India, and making it difficult for them to organize.
Even governments are resorting to use of contract labor. In 2004, the government of Tamil Nadu ordered its health department to recruit personnel, other than doctors, on a contract basis through private agencies. The government also refused to recognize or negotiate with unions of government employees and teachers.
Globalization and economic liberalization have created a climate in which there is further pressure to dilute labor standards, in particular labor inspection and the enforcement of labor legislation. For example, the Haryana State government created a "State Labor Policy 2006" to reform the way that the State Government enforces labor laws. The State now forbids more than one labor inspection per factory per year.
In May 2006, the government of Maharashtra State introduced a new policy applicable to EPZs in the state that allows industries and/or export oriented units to employ certain categories of services on a perpetual contract basis. The regulation supplants the law that currently prohibits industries from retaining employees under 'temporary' category beyond 240 days(after which such employees can claim the rights of permanent employees) in the EPZs.
By forming the Indian Labor Conference, the State Labor Ministers Conference and the Standing Labor Committee, the country recognized that the workers in the organized and unorganized sectors can only achieve the right to work and the rights at work, along with the right to organize and agitate, if positive conditions are created together by the State and the employers. The Union Minister of Labor and Employment Mallikarjun Kharge, and the Minister of State Harish Rawat, both had to mention the inevitability of contract labor in their speeches, at a forum(February 2010 New Delhi meet) which is primarily meant for the defense and expansion of labor rights is unfortunate.
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