Proposal to raise workers' threshold hits union wall

Central trade unions today opposed the proposal to increase the threshold limit of workers and giving powers to states to raise it two-fold under the Factories Act.
At present, the threshold for coverage under the Factories Act is 10 workers for units using power and 20 for those not using electricity for their output.
"Central trade unions (CTUs) oppose increasing threshold limit of workers and giving state governments the power to increase the limit two-fold under the Factories Act, 1946," a statement by the All India Trade Union Congress said.
At a meeting called today by the labour ministry, the unions said all the recommendations of the parliamentary standing committee, including increasing the threshold limit, allowing women workers to work on night shifts, increasing spreadover to 12 hours have not been complied with in the Factory (Amendment) Bill.

The unions also railed against the proposal relating to increase in working hours on a day. "The note circulated for the meeting regarding changes proposed to be made in the Bill is vague as the draft Amendment Bill has not been circulated," it said.
On other proposals like constituting Occupational Safety and Health Board, its powers and functions, the trade unions made their opposition known and demanded a copy of the Amendment Bill to provide their comments comprehensively.

The CTUs also protested against "not being consulted" before introducing and passing of the Factory (Amendment) Bill, 2016 in the Lok Sabha and "ignoring the norms of tripartism".

There were also concerns over "the hurry with which the government wants to pass the Factory (Amendment) Bill-2014".
As per the statement, the labour minister promised that the copy of the amended Bill will be sent to the central trade unions for comments. Representatives of all the 12 CTUs participated in the meeting and submitted the joint memorandum.
The representatives who participated in the meeting are D L Sachdev (AITUC), Vidyasagar Giri (AITUC), Pawan Kumar (BMS), Meenakshi Sundram (CITU), Harbhajan Singh (HMS), Rajiv Dimri (AICCTU), Shankar Dasgupta (AIUTUC) and Shanmugam (LPF), among others.