Govt in talks with labour unions to get them on board for labour laws

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The government is holding high-level consultations with the central trade unions to bring them on board for the implementation of the new labour codes, amidst their insistence on scrapping the four new laws, said government sources familiar with the development.

“We have held several rounds of consultations with the unions and some of them have also responded positively and provided constructive feedback. We are also going to hold consultations with the remaining 7-8 unions in the coming days and expect them to also respond positively,” the sources said.

To streamline operations and move towards universal social security, the government has consolidated 29 central labour laws into four labour codes: the Code on Wages, 2019; the Industrial Relations Code, 2020; the Code on Social Security, 2020; and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020.

According to a recent study by the government’s VV Giri National Labour Institute, 20 states and four Union Territories (UTs) have formulated rules under all four codes, while three states have rules under three codes.

Besides, the sources also said that the government is hoping to roll out the employment linked incentive (ELI) schemes and the internship scheme at the earliest as the Ministry of Labour and Employment is understood to be working on the details and provisions of the three ELI schemes announced in the Union Budget by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

“The objective is to get young students trained at the top companies where these candidates can learn about the best management practices and international best practices. These candidates would then be job-ready and would be hired easily, even by smaller firms, where they can then take forward these management practices that they learnt during their internship period," the sources said.

Last week, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced in the Union Budget that internships would be provided to 10 million youth by India’s top 500 companies over the next five years. This will be part of the Rs 2 trillion worth Prime Minister’s package on employment and skilling that aims to create a job-ready and future-ready workforce.

Apart from the internship scheme, the package also includes three employment-linked incentives schemes, which will be administered by the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation and would focus on the recognition of first-time employees, and support to employees and employers.