LS passes Wage Code Bill to ensure minimum wage for workers

Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed the Wages Code Bill that will enable introduction of minimum wage for workers besides addressing issues like delay in payment to employees.

The Code on Wages Bill, 2019, which seeks to amend and consolidate the laws relating to wages and bonus and matters connected therewith, will benefit 50 crore workers, Labour Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar said, terming the bill as a "historic step".

The Bill which was passed by voice vote subsumes four labour laws -- Minimum Wages Act, Payment of Wages Act, Payment of Bonus Act and Equal Remuneration Act. After its enactment, all these four Acts would be repealed.

Gangwar said that while drafting the bill, the government has accepted 17 out of the 24 recommendations made by the Standing Committee which had scrutinised the similar bill introduced in the previous Lok Sabha.

As per the bill, the tripartite committee comprising representatives of trade unions, employers and state government would fix a floor wage for workers throughout the country, Gangwar said, adding "minimum wage will become right of every worker."