GOVERNMENT CONSIDERING TO AMEND THE MINIMUM WAGES ACT AND BRING
IN UMBRELLA LEGISLATION FOR WORKERS IN THE UNORGANISED SECTOR
The Government is considering amending
the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 to improve its compliance. Addressing
the meeting of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee attached
to his Ministry here today, the Labour Minister Dr. Sahib Singh
said the proposed amendments would aim at making penalties for
non-compliance more deterrent. He said that both the Centre and
the states need to do much more to ensure the implementation of
the Minimum Wages Act. Dr. Sahib Singh also told the Members that
the Labour ministry is considering to bring in an umbrella legislation
for workers in the unorganised sector. He said that the Labour
Ministry is studying the Report of the Second National Commission
on Labour and would like to have a detailed consultation on it
with the Members of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee and
various social partners. Responding to the suggestion of the Members,
the Labour Minister said that special awareness generation campaigns
would be launched in various parts of the country among workers
and employers regarding rights and obligations envisaged in the
Minimum Wages Act. He suggested that along with making non-compliance
more deterrent, the sustained voluntary compliance of the Minimum
Wages Act should be rewarded.
It was revealed during the meeting
that enforcement of the Minimum Wages Act in the Central sphere
has been continuously showing a marked improvement despite shortage
of Inspectors and Labour Enforcement Officers. !5,800 inspections
were made during the last financial year and 6,126 cases were
filed for prosecution of which about 60% cases were decided. An
amount of over One crore rupees was recovered and distributed
in 2000-01 compared to the recovery of 18 lakh rupees in the previous
financial year.
The Labour Secretary Dr. P.D. Shenoy
said that the trade unions and workers should come forward to
file claims. He said that we have asked the Employers organisations
to have their own inspection machinery to improve compliance.
Participating in the meeting the
Members suggested that more employments should be brought within
the purview of Scheduled Employments under the Minimum Wages Act.
The number of scheduled employments at present in the Central
sphere is 45 whereas in the State sphere their number is 1232.
The Members said that most of the workers in the unorganised sector
are not getting the stipulated minimum wages. They said that the
Inspectors should visit specific areas as a model to improve enforcement
of the Minimum Wages Act. Shri P. Rajandaran and Shri K. Malaiswamy,
Members of Parliament, and senior officials of the Ministry of
Labour attended the Meeting.
