After the Uttar Pradesh and the Madhya Pradesh governments brought in ordinances exempting industries from complying with most of the labour laws, Karnataka has also taken a step in this direction. On Saturday, Commissioner of the Labour Department, Captain Manivannan held a meeting with the Confederation of Indian Industries’ (CII) Karnataka wing and said, “Karnataka can do better than UP with its own brand of reforms.”
He also said that the government is mulling over increasing work hours of employees.
In a video conference that lasted for an hour on Saturday, industry representatives requested the Karnataka government to reduce the minimum wage and also reduce benefits like the amount to be paid for health insurance and employee provident fund. Labour Department’s Commissioner Manivannan assured industry representatives that Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa had asked the department to look into increasing overtime paid working hours from 72 hours to 100 hours per annum. He said that the state cabinet will convene next week and discuss the issue of labour reforms.
Captain Manivannan said that the industry representatives put in a request to reduce the minimum wage cap during the meeting on Saturday. He said that the government will not reduce minimum wages, instead it will put on hold an earlier notification which mandated for increase in minimum wages from April this year. This notification may be postponed by a few months depending on the economic situation.
The change in norms is being termed as a move to drive more investment to “revive the economy”.
One of the requests put forth by the industry representatives was to not pay workers who did register work hours due to the lockdown. “If an employee lodges a complaint of non-payment or reduced payment of wages or retrenchment, the Labour Department will not issue a notice to the employer directly,” Captain Manivannan told TNM.
Yes. No notice will be issued. Instead reconciliation will be done first, thru the industry associations and the Tripartite Task Torce formed. Further action based on the recommendation of the committee.
— Captain Manivannan (@mani1972ias) May 9, 2020
The department will first conduct an “oral and informal inquiry” and only if the employer is making profits will the employer be asked to pay the workers. “Employers’ Association will be contacted. If the Employers’ Association says that the employer has the money to pay employees, only then will action be taken,” Captain Manivannan added.
He further stated that reconciliation will be done first, through the industry associations and the Tripartite Task Force, which will be formed to address such issues. Further action will be based on the recommendations of the task force.
He further stated that the state government will write to the Centre, asking it to allow reduction of benefits including insurance and provident fund.
The All India Central Council of Trade Unions questioned the announcements made after the meeting. The trade union said that employees will not be able to function properly if labour laws are withdrawn.
“We hope that in the times of this pandemic, workers who are hit hard, will have more protection of their rights and not less. Loosening labour laws has never proved to kick start any economy. We hope ktk govt protects workers rights (sic),” the All India Central Council of Trade Unions said in a tweet.
“Dear CM sir, in a pandemic do you want to reduce the health coverage, social security of workers? Workers are already hit hard by COVID-19, no rich industrialist lost much wealth, but you want to make the poor poorer?” the AICCTU questioned.
We hope that in the times of this pandemic, workers who are hit hard, will have more protection of their rights @mani1972ias and not less. Loosening labour laws has never proved to kick start any economy. We hope ktk govt protects workers rights @BSYBJP @ShivaramHebbar sir 7/7
— AICCTU Karnataka (@aicctukar) May 9, 2020
Speaking to TNM, Maitreyi Krishnan, a member of AICCTU said that the only demand trade unions have is that employers pay workers for the time they did not go to the factories during the lockdown. “How will they survive? The Union government has issued an order stating that pay must not be deducted. This is a clear violation,” she added.
The Uttar Pradesh Temporary Exemption from Certain Labour Laws Ordinance, 2020, retains only three laws protecting the labour force in the state and allows industries to not comply with any other labour laws for a period of three years. The three laws which it retained in the ordinance include the Bonded Labour Act, 1976, Employee Compensation Act, 1923, and Building and Other Construction Workers’ Act, 1996.