The remark by Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia that the government wanted a flexible labour policy but without a "hire and fire" system was not acceptable to the Left parties, CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan said today. | |
| "Not at all", Bardhan said when asked if the suggestion was acceptable to the Left parties. "It (hire-and-fire system) is not the only thing. The CII, the industrialists themselves, have demanded flexible hours of work". |
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| Pointing out that historically, people have fought for an eight-hour working day, he said the industry wanted to see this limit removed. Besides, it wanted to introduce contract labour in which the "security of job goes", he said. |
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| The industry is also pushing for changing Rule 5 (B) of the Industrial Dispute Act that gives them the power to close down units with up to 1,000 workers without government's permission, he said. |
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| Ahluwalia had on Friday said that rigidities in labour laws were affecting the domestic job market and raising the costs of companies, especially in the manufacturing sector. |
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| Bardhan defended the Left parties' opposition to FDI in retail even as China was aggressively wooing foreign investment in this sector. "China has its problems", he said. |
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| "Here, People starve when they are thrown out of jobs. China has a plan to sustain such people for some time. We don't have any such plan," he said. |
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