Will bring in changes to labour laws, says Bandaru Dattatrey after assuming charge
Mumbai: Government is committed to go ahead with further labour law reforms, Union Minister Bandaru Dattatrey said on Tuesday even as trade unions are opposing such measures.
"The government is totally committed to reform the labour sector. We need to bring in changes in the labour laws in a manner that they are in the interest of all the stakeholders -- the industry, employer and employees," Dattatrey, who recently took charge as the Labour and Employment Minister, told reporters.
It may be recalled that all central trade unions had called for a nationwide protest on December 5 to protest against the labour reforms initiated by the Narendra Modi government.
Read: Bandaru Dattatreya is the first Telangana minister at the Centre
There are four-five laws such as the Trade Union Act and the Compensation Act which need to be in sync with the current times and "certain laws need to be looked at in a new light", Dattatreya, who is the Minister of State with independent charge of the Ministry, said on the sidelines of the 3rd India-Australia Skills summit orgnised by CII here.
Acceding to the industry's long-pending demand, Prime Minister Modi had on October 16 unveiled a string of labour reforms, including measures to end the Inspector Raj. He dedicated a number of schemes under Shramev Jayate (work alone triumphs) programme which includes portability through universal account number for employee provident fund, single window portal to enable doing business with labour ministry and labour inspection scheme at the Central level.
The trade unions, however, termed these reforms as "pro-industry and anti-working class" and have called for a national protest on December 5.
Stating that the reforms are all the more needed for the unorganised sector, which accounts for the lion's share of the workforce, Dattareya said the Sharamvev Jayete programme is aimed at incentivising the sector besides making it more transparent.
Emphasising that the social security ought to be provided to the workers in the unorganised sector, he said that opening a bank account and a cheque payment system for wages was part of the proposed reforms in the unorganised sector.
The minister said the government will hold consultation with all stakeholders including the registered trade unions on the reforms.
