Page 115 - Labor

ECB's Praet says German wage rise fully in line with forecasts

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - A benchmark salary increase secured by Germany's largest trade union this week is "fully in line" with the European Central Bank's inflation forecasts, the ECB's chief economist Peter Praet said on Thursday.

Wage increment may not give job satisfaction

Contrary to the popular believe that people tend to be more satisfied after an increase in their wage, a new study suggests that it may be temporary and not have a persistent effect on job satisfaction.

PyeongChang confirms 86 cases of norovirus infection

Organisers of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics said Thursday 86 cases of norovirus infections have been confirmed, with no athlete having been affected following the outbreak in the Olympic host city earlier in the week.

Cabinet approves India-UK deal on skill development

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the United Kingdom (UK) in the field of skill development, vocational education and training.The cabinet was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The MoU would pave the way for closer bilateral cooperation between the two countries in the field of vocational education and training and skill development.The collaboration would help to strengthen India's skill eco-system, thereby skilling youth for better employment prospects.The MoU will create the framework for innovative partnership between India and the UK industry and training institutes and will help to scale up skill training efforts in India and enhance their quality.The funding of projects related to the execution of the MoU will be structured in separate individual arrangements, mutually agreed by both parties.The skill development is national priorities for India and the UK and a key part of the bilateral partnership between ...

Trafficked Hyderabad woman rescued from Saudi

A Hyderabadi woman, who was sent to Saudi Arabia in hopes of a good job by her employer, has been rescued by the Indian Embassy in Saudi Arabia.Victim, Sameena Begum (29) was also allegedly made to beg for food at wedding functions in Saudi Arabia by her employer.Speaking to ANI, Begum said, "An agent approached to me and offered me a good job as a beautician in Saudi Arabia with 1,000 riyal per month. I left for Saudi and after landing there I realised there was no such job and the agent kept me in a house as maid servant".She added that there the employers used to make her work hard in three houses at a time."When I confronted and said I want to return back to India, they said they will not send me back and in turn they demanded Rs. two lakhs from me to do so. Later, I faced health issues but they did not even take me to the hospital. The employer had also told me to beg and bring food from marriages and functions but I refused to go," she added.She said that was tortured and made ..

Britain's Tesco faces record $5.6 billion equal pay claim

LONDON (Reuters) - Supermarket group Tesco is facing a potential bill of up to 4 billion pounds ($5.6 billion) in a record equal pay claim involving mainly women workers at its British stores, according to the law firm pursuing the case.

Cognizant to invest USD 100 mn in US tech education

IT firm Cognizant today said it has set up a new non-profit foundation, with an initial grant of USD 100 million, to support STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) and digital education and skills initiatives for workers and students in the US. "The grant to the new foundation is a result of anticipated benefits due to recent changes in US tax laws. The new foundation will focus on funding education and skills programmes in multiple cities and states to help improve opportunities for US workers and students," Cognizant said in a statement. Cognizant is one of the largest technology employers in America. In 2017, it had added more than 6,000 US workers and plans to grow its US workforce by at least an additional 25,000 over the next five years. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, by 2020, there will be a 1.4-million-person gap between software development jobs and qualified applicants to fill these positions in the US. As the digital economy expands

C'garh Congress MLAs stage walkout from House

Opposition Congress today staged a walkout from Legislative Assembly after expressing unhappiness over the government's reply on "pending" payment to labourers under the MGNREGA. Raising the issue during Question Hour, ruling BJP MLA Sanam Jangde claimed that villagers of at least 20 Panchayats under his constituency, Bhilaigarh, were not paid wages against the work done under MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) in the year 2015-16. In his reply, Panchayat and Rural Development Minister Ajay Chandrakar said that no payment of wages under the guaranteed employment scheme was pending for the year 2015-16. The minister, however, said he would take stock of the payment made under MGNREGA for three village panchayats (in Bhilaigarh area) if Jangde will provide him details. Meanwhile, Congress MLAs, including Satyanarayan Sharma, Dhanendra Sahu and Amarjeet Bhagat, alleged that the payment for the year 2015-16 under the employment scheme was ...

States collect Rs 38K cr as construction workers welfare cess

As much as Rs 38,514 crore has been collected as construction workers welfare cess by states and Union territories till December 31, 2017, Parliament was informed today. Out of this, Rs 9,756 crore has been spent as on December 31, 2017, Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar said in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha. Earlier, the Supreme Court had also made observation about the thousands of crores rupees lying idle which is meant for the welfare of these workers. Former Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya had also written several times to states to constitute labour welfare boards to utlise this money for welfare of the workers. The Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Cess Act, 1996, provides for levy and collection of cess. The cess has been levied and is being collected at 1 per cent of the cost of construction. The cess is collected by states and Union territories and utilised for the welfare of building and other construction workers by the State

UK to consult on employment status after gig economy concerns

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain is to launch a consultation into workplace rights in the face of public and political concern that some in the "gig economy" are being exploited.

Outsourcing of jobs in Government Departments

There are detailed procedures laid down for procurement of such non-consulting services including e-procurement in Chapter 6 of the GFR 2017 and the Manual for Procurement of Consultancy & Other Services, 2017. Ministries are competent to decide the mode depending on the nature of work, nature of competency required etc. Any deviation or violation can be dealt by the Ministry appropriately. The wages for the persons engaged on contract/outsourcing cannot be less than the minimum wage fixed/notified by the concerned State Government.

'Avg variable pay across hierarchies at 10.6 pc of total pay'

Both employees and employers seem to be moving towards a compensation structure wherein the share of variable pay and flexi benefits constitute significant portion of the total rewards, says a report. According to the TeamLease Compensation & Total Rewards Trends Report, the average variable pay across hierarchies has increased and stood around 10.6 per cent of the total compensation mix. The variable pay for senior management has risen to 25-30 per cent from 18-20 per cent earlier (prior to 2010). For the middle management it has increased to 18-20 per cent from 10- 12 per cent earlier and for junior management it has improved to 10-12 per cent from 5-8 per cent earlier. As per the study not only variable pay even flexi- benefits are gaining momentum and becoming a critical component of total rewards. They seem to be yielding higher value amongst employees, lower costs for employers, and better tax benefits, it said. While the cost to business in providing flexible .

Tesco faces record 4 billion pound equal pay claim in Britain - BBC

LONDON (Reuters) - Tesco is facing Britain's largest ever equal pay claim from women and a possible bill of up to 4 billion pounds ($5.6 billion), the BBC reported.

The Judge Group aims to invest USD 10 million in India

Leading professional services firm, The Judge Group, on Wednesday announced that it is aiming to allocate USD 10 million in India in the FY18 for expansion and employment generation purposes.Within a year of starting operations in India, the staffing firm gained much respect and recognition from various industries and sectors for providing them with the extremely talented professionals.And, amongst all, it was the IT sector that got benefited the most and now offers a good strong share to the company in serving all the major staffing needs of the industry."Within a year of starting with our operations in the Indian region, we witnessed the enormous talent and tech-intelligence in the young Indian blood. But, unfortunately, the unfavorable industry trends led to their downfall. By allocating USD 10 million funds for expansion and employment generation, we believe that we would be able to give wings to the dreams of the maximum of India's tech-savvy job seekers," said senior vice ...

HC ticks off Maha govt for failure to curb child labour

The Bombay High Court today pulled up the Maharashtra government for its "failure" to curb child labour, and said it would henceforth hold senior officials of departments concerned accountable for implementation of law. A bench of Justices SC Dharamadhikari and Bharati Dangre directed the government to submit a list of senior officials of the departments concerned. These officials, it said, will henceforth be directly accountable to the high court with regard to their efforts to implement the law against child labour as well as enforcement of Constitutional provisions on child rights. The bench, hearing a matter after taking cognisance of news reports on child labour, is likely to pass a detailed order on February 8. It noted that despite constitutional provisions mandating that no children below the age of 14 be employed under hazardous conditions, and the Right to Education Act providing for free and compulsory education to all children below the age of 14, the state ..

Govt to hold 'pension adalat' on Friday

A 'pension adalat' will be organised here on Friday by the government to address the grievances of pensioners and retiring employees, according to an official statement issued today. To strengthen the grievances redressal mechanism, the department of pension and pensioners' welfare has started pension adalat wherein unresolved grievances are taken up and petitioner along with concerned department, banks, central pension accounting office, etc. are brought at one common platform with an objective to provide on-the-spot resolution of grievance. The department will organise next pension adalat on February 9 under the auspices of Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Jitendra Singh, wherein 34 grievances of 17 departments will be considered. The issues include revision of family pension, commutation of pension, final settlement of GPF, fixed medical allowance, etc. In the first pension adalat conducted in September 2017, out of 29 grievances, 26 ...

German pay deal heralds end of wage restraint in Europe's largest economy

STUTTGART, Germany (Reuters) - A hard-fought deal on pay and working hours for industrial employees in southwestern Germany sets a benchmark for millions of workers across Europe's largest economy and heralds wage growth in the coming years.

Maneka Gandhi bats for child labour-free goods

Union Minister Maneka Gandhi has proposed that the government procure goods from vendors who can "certify" that they do not engage child labour, according to an official. The women and child development minister has written to her counterpart in the commerce ministry, Suresh Prabhu, that by demanding products and services that do not engage children the government will set a precedent. "All procurement through the GeM portal should be made only from such vendors who can certify that their goods and services are free from child labour," the minister wrote in her letter. Different ministries of central and state governments as well as public sector undertakings purchase their goods from an online portal called GeM or Government e-marketplace. "If the government starts demanding child labour-free certified goods and services, it will also encourage non- government buyers to demand the same," her letter adds. The letter has also been shared with the ministries of finance and

First ever chat based job search app 'Empzilla' launched

Taking prime minister Narendra Modi's Digital India initiative forward, a chat based job search mobile app 'Empzilla', first ever of its kind in the country, is being launched that will do away with existing limitations of employers and job seekers making selection process quick and cost effective.The mobile app gets conversation between employers and job seekers going in seconds and the latter can chat with the potential employer even within his office set up without letting his peers and seniors know the context of the conversation. It also relieves the Human Resource department of excessive load of mails and the need to download all the profiles which is time consuming and confusing."We realized there were limitations in the way job seekers were communication with employers so far. To do away with those limitations, we are launching this mobile app which will revolutionize the way communications happens between job lookers and recruiters. This can easily be downloaded from Google ..

ICAI employees go on protest

More than 800 regular employees of the chartered accountants' apex body ICAI today went on protest against non-implementation of the 7th Pay Commission recommendations. Members from both employees and officers associations at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) went on protest on a day when the institute would be holding its annual function which is scheduled to be attended by three union ministers. A joint statement issued by associations representing employees and officers said all the regular employees of the institute are on protest from today against non-implementation of 7th Pay Commission after giving the required notice to the management. "All the employees of the ICAI across the country have started peaceful protest/ introspection and would intensify it further by resorting to demonstrations, casual leaves and dharnas," the statement said. Together, the two associations have around 860 members who are regular staff. Along with contractual ...