Indian Labour Conference to discuss govt's labour law changes

The agenda will be labour law amendments, amendment to the Bonus Act, social security for workers and international migrant workers

Accepting trade unions’ demands, the Union labour ministry on Friday decided to take up the proposed labour law amendments at the two-day Indian Labour Conference (ILC) scheduled to begin on July 20.

The standing labour committee, chaired by Union labour minister Bandaru Dattatreya, met in New Delhi to decide the agenda of the ILC.  It would be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The agenda would be labour law amendments, amendment to the Bonus Act, social security for workers and international migrant workers, employment creation and review on implementation of recommendations from earlier conferences.

This will be the 46th session of the ILC and would be held the first time after the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government came to power.

Earlier on Friday, various central TU leaders met to finalise the demands to be put up before the government for inclusion in the ILC agenda. The government subsequently took all these on board for discussion.

"We are happy with the agenda items, particularly the Union government's decision to discuss the amendments," said B N Rai, general secretary of the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh.

Termed 'labour parliament' of the country, the ILC will be attended by state labour ministers, representatives of central TUs, employers and Union government officials.

Since coming to power, the government has proposed a slew of labour law proposals and some of these have been strongly opposed by the unions.