General Strike on the 20th and 21st February, 2013 : Minister
appealed to the Central Trade Unions to withdraw the notice for the
proposed strike
Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ministry of Labour & Employment
13-February-2013 19:00 IST
Mallikarjun
Kharge Assure Central Trade Union Leaders to Brief Prime Minister about
issues Raised by them Appeal to the Central Trade Unions not to
Inconvenience the General Public and the Workers and to Withdraw the
Notice for the Proposed Strike.
The
Union Minister for Labour & Employment Shri Mallikarjun Kharge and
the Minister of State for Labour & Employment Shri K.Suresh today
met the representatives of eleven major Central Trade Unions here at
Shram Shakti Bhawan in New Delhi to discuss the proposed country-wide
General Strike on the 20th and 21st February, 2013. Senior officers of
various Ministries also attended the meeting.
The
representatives of Central Trade Unions reiterated their demands for
the Government to take concrete measures to contain price rise, to
ensure employment generation, strict enforcement of labour laws,
universal social security for unorganized and organized workers,
stoppage of disinvestment in central and state public sector
undertakings. Some of the specific issues raised by them related to
payment of minimum wages of Rs.10,000/-, abolition of contract labour,
payment of equal wages and benefits to contract workers at par with
regular workers, removal of all ceilings on payment and eligibility of
bonus, provident fund, increasing the quantum of gratuity, assured
pension for all, compulsory registration of trade unions within 45 days
and immediate ratification of the ILO Convention No. 87 and 98.
The
Minister for Labour & Employment thanked the representatives of
trade unions for the keen interest shown by them to address the problems
faced by workers and common people in the country. He explained the
various initiatives taken by the Government to tackle these important
issues in a sympathetic and time-bound manner. He particularly
highlighted the amendments proposed by the Ministry of Labour &
Employment to the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, National Floor Level Minimum
Wage to workers and to the Contract Labour (Regulation & Abolition)
Act, 1970 to make its enforcement stricter and labour-friendly. The
steps taken by the Govt to provide for a minimum pension of Rs.1000/- to
the EPF subscribers were explained. On the enforcement of labour laws
the Minister clarified that both the Central and State Governments take
effective measures for inspection of workplaces and prosecution is
launched wherever irregularities are detected.
The
Minister reiterated that enacting labour legislation involves a
tripartite process and employers, employees and State Governments are to
be consulted. Therefore, it is a time-consuming process. The Govt is
taking all necessary steps to enact various laws and amendments in
consultation with the various stakeholders.
The
Minister informed the representatives of the Central Trade Unions about
the various steps taken by the Government to control inflation, arrest
price rise, promote investment and ensure industrial growth which will
lead to greater employment opportunities. On disinvestment it was
clarified that even after disinvestment Govt will retain 51% of the
shareholding and management control of Central Public Sector Enterprises
and partial disinvestment will not affect the public sector character
of the CPSEs or their labour and employment policy.
The
Minister assured the Central Trade Unions that he will bring these
developments to the notice of the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh .
The representatives of Central Trade Unions requested that a final
settlement of all the pending issues should be done without further loss
of time. The Minister reiterated the sincere efforts being made by the
Government to address the problems of the working class and the people.
He appealed to the Central Trade Unions not to inconvenience the general
public and the workers and to withdraw the notice for the proposed
strike.
The following Trade Union Leaders were present in the meeting:
S/Shri
A. N. Dogra (BMS), G. Sanjiva Reddy (INTUC), Gurudas Dasgupta (AITUC),
H.S.Sidhu (HMS), Tapan Sen (CITU), R.A. Mittal (HMS), R.K. Sharma
(AITUC), G.Devarajan (TUCC), A.K. Padmanabhan (CITU), D.L.Sachdev
(AITUC), Rajiv Dimri(AICCTU), S.K.Roy, AICCTU), M.Hhanmugam (LPF), Ashok
Ghosh (UTUC) and P.J. Raju (UTUC).
The Various Ministries/Departments Officiers representatives were as under:
S/Shri
Dr. M. Sarangi, Secretary Labour & Employment; Ravi Mathur,
Secretary, Deptt. of Disinvestment (DOD); D.S.Dhesi, AS, Commerce;
Pramod Aggrawal JS, DOD, Sudha Krishnan, Joint Secretary, D’o
Expenditure; Atul Chaturvedi, JS,DIPP; S.Sahu, Addl. Dev. Commidssioner,
MSME; B.K.Sanwariya,CLC, M/o Labour & Employment, Shailesh Kumar
Singh, JS,M/o Coal and B.S.Negi,CMS (Admn.) M/o Rural Development.
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