Wages, unemployment issues kept Labour ministry busy in 2013

The Labour and Employment Ministry remained engaged with wages and unemployment issues during 2013 which also saw a nationwide trade union strike and the death of minister Sis Ram Ola.
The death of Ola on December 15 came at a time when the Ministry was looking to take forward various social issues such as bringing a national policy for domestic workers and the much needed amendments in the age-old labour related laws.
He had taken charge of the ministry on June 17 after the then Minister Mallikarjun Kharge was shifted to the Railway Ministry.
The country came to a virtual stand-still when trade unions called a two-day general strike on February 20 pressing for implementation of their 10-point charter of demands.

The strike was called by 11 central unions to demand urgent steps to control price rise, strict enforcement of labour laws in all places of work, social security net for workers in the unorganised sector, end to disinvestment in PSUs and raising minimum wage to Rs 10,000.
The industry calculated a loss of Rs 25,000 crore to the economy.

A GoM was set up by the Prime Minister to look into the demands of the unions but the leaders contended that the GoM was not serious to address their issues. The GoM comprises Defence Minister A K Antony, Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Labour and Employment Minister Mallikarjun Kharge and has met couple of times only since it was constituted.

In May, the Indian Labour Conference met here pushing for sops to working class such as a minimum assured pension of Rs 1000 per month, universal social security coverage and enactment of a legislation on right to work on the lines of right to information and right to education.
The conference also recommended minimum wages for workers employed in central government schemes such as anganwadi, midday meal and Asha and recognising them as "workers" instead of voluntary workers.
Earlier during the year gone by, the government cleared a proposal to make the minimum wages announced by the Centre for workers in unorganised sector statutory for all states so as to bring parity in wages paid.