Tomar push to allow workers in board meetings

Holds meeting to finalise bill on the issue, but says workers' participation should be voluntary for industry, not statutory

Union labour minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Monday said adopting workers’ participation at the top level of a company should remain “voluntary for industry and not statutory”.

He had convened a meeting on Monday to finalise the content of a bill which would allow the participation of workers in a firm’s board decisions.

“There had been attempts in the past to formulate schemes for workers’ participation in varying forms but the schemes were mainly to be implemented on a voluntary basis,” Tomar said.

In the past, the Union labour ministry has held several rounds of discussion on The Workers’ Participation in Management Bill, 1990, which was introduced in Rajya Sabha first in 1990. This bill was referred to the parliamentary standing committee in July 1994, which had later recommended the Union government to pursue the bill.

“The meeting aimed to get feedback from the management of leading CPSUs and apex employers’ organisations,” said the Union labour ministry in a statement on Monday.