Contract Canteen Workers Part Of Company
The Supreme Court held last week that when an industrial establishment engaged a contractor to supply labour to run a canteen, which it is obliged under the law to run, workers employed by the contractor would be treated as those of the principal employer.
This ruling in the National Thermal Power Corporation vs Karri Pothraju case covers industrial units, which are bound to run canteens for the welfare of the employees under the Factories Act.
Several companies in Andhra Pradesh, apart from the power utility, had moved the Supreme Court against the ruling of the high court, which had directed them to absorb workers brought in by the contractors. They argued that those employees were not theirs, and were those of the contractors.
The canteens were run as a beneficial measure for the staff, the contractors were changed frequently following invitation of tenders, the canteen workers had nothing to do with the manufacturing activities and the management did not have direct control over the canteen workers.
Therefore, the companies were not obliged to absorb workers or to give them wages and benefits given to the regular workers, the management argued.
The Bench comprising Justice Rajendra Babu and Justice Doraiswamy Raju, rejected this line of argument. They said provisions of the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act had nothing to do with workers of the