Lockdown-hit industry demands suspension of labour laws for 2-3 yrs

Employers' associations on Friday demanded suspension of labour laws barring some key provisions across the country for next two-three years to help the industry come out of the crisis induced by the lockdown to combat COVID-19 pandemic.

Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar on Friday held a webinar with employers' bodies such as CII, Ficci and Assocham to discuss issues like restarting economic activities, job creation and measures to improve the situation of MSMEs to enable them to discharge their liabilities under labour laws.

The industry bodies suggested a slew of measures and sought relaxations such as increasing working hours to 12 hours per day from the existing 8 hours per day to help them revive operations, according to a release by the Labour Ministry.

The release said the industry associations suggested "to suspend the labour laws for the next 2-3 years except for provisions like minimum wages, bonus and statutory dues, to help the industry come out of the present crisis".

The suggestion follows the Uttar Pradesh government's move to bring an ordinance on Thursday to suspend all labour laws barring some provisions for the next three years to give relief to the industry hit by the existing lockdown.

Labour is a concurrent subject and states can amend certain labour laws for their regions.

The industry bodies also suggested "to increase working hours to 12 hours per day", the release said.

They also demanded that power to the industry may be supplied at subsidized rates.

"Instead of different zones like red, orange and green, there should be (2) zones viz. containment zone and non-containment zones to facilitate easy movement of workers and goods. Allow all activities in the non-containment zones."