Page 36 - Labor

Only 23% labour working in rlys paid min wages: CAG after reviewing 463 contracts

Only 23 per cent labour working in railways are being paid minimum wages, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India said after reviewing 463 contracts, in a report submitted in Parliament Tuesday, a day when 10 central trade unions have called a nationwide strike for labour rights. The auditor in its report 'Compliance to Statutory Requirements in Engagement of Contract Labour by Indian Railways' said out of the 463 contracts reviewed, minimum wages were paid in only 105 cases. "In respect of 129 contracts, payment of minimum wages to contract labour was not ensured. Audit assessed a sum of Rs 9.23 crore as short payment to 3,310 contract labourers over the contract period towards minimum wages...Thus compliance to provisions for payment of minimum wages was found in 23 per cent (105 of 463) of contracts," the report said. Railways executes a wide range of works for creation, repair and maintenance of its assets. These works are executed through its own workers or via outsourcing. .

Delhi govt issues circular to ensure timely payment of wages to contractual staff

The Delhi government has issued "stern" directions to the principal secretaries and secretaries to ensure timely payment of wages to the contractual employees engaged by their respective departments. In a statement issued on Tuesday, the government said a "strict circular" was recently issued to all the heads of departments, asking them to follow the cabinet directions for timely payment of wages to contractual employees. It stated that the respective HoDs were made responsible for timely payment to the contractual staff. "It has been directed that wages for the previous month should be paid to all such staff by the 7th day of the next month if the establishment has engaged less than 1,000 persons/workers and by the 10th day of the next month if the establishment has engaged more than 1,000 persons/workers," the statement said. It added that each HoD should certify that payments were made to the contractual employees and the certificate should be sent to the chief secretary by the ...

Trade unions strike evokes mixed response in C'garh

Banking and postal services were partially affected in Chhattisgarh on Tuesday as the Central Trade Unions went on a two-day nationwide strike against the government's alleged anti-worker policies and unilateral labour reforms. Employees of some of the major banks, insurance companies and post offices joined the strike, which evoked a mixed response in the state. A trade union leader, however, claimed that the strike had a huge impact in Chhattisgarh. "Employees of coal, steel, power companies, banks, insurance firms and those working in other organised and unorganised sectors joined the strike," Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) state secretary Dharmaraj Mahapatra told PTI. Workers of the anganwadis (government-run women and child care centres), rice mills and agriculture production marketing centres (mandis) also supported the protest, he said. He claimed that the strike will have a greater impact on Wednesday. Meanwhile, mining activities in the mineral-rich state

BEST strike: Office-goers hit hard, Maha govt invokes MESMA

Over 32,000 employees of Mumbai's civic transport undertaking went on an indefinite strike on Tuesday over various demands, including higher salaries, prompting the state government to invoke the Maharashtra Essential Services Maintenance Act (MESMA) against them. The protest by the employees of the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) coincided with the two-day nationwide strike called by trade unions to protest the government's alleged anti-worker policies and unilateral labour reforms. The state government invoked the MESMA after the strike affected nearly 25-lakh daily commuters. Some commuters complained that autorickshaw drivers were trying to take advantage of the situation and were charging five times more than the normal rates. A meeting between Brihanmumbai Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta and leaders of the workers' union that has called the strike failed to arrive at a positive result. "The strike is illegal and the agitating staffers have been asked to ...

Bill to provide statutory recognition to trade unions in LS

The government today introduced a bill in Lok Sabha to make provisions regarding recognition of trade unions, drawing opposition from the Congress as well as the CPI(M) which staged a walkout calling it a "draconian and unconstitutional" legislation. Introducing the Trade Unions (Amendment) Bill 2019, Union Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar said that so far there was no legal framework on representation of trade unions in policymaking and the proposed legislation will address the issue. The present Act provides for only registration of trade unions and there is no provision for recognition. The Minister said that certain unions are on strike but it has had no impact. "Six unions are not participating in the strike. There is no impact of the ongoing strike," he said. A strike on January 8 and 9 has been called by ten central trade unions against the alleged repressive policies for workers adopted by the government. The unions are INTUC, AITUC, HMS, CITU, AIUTUC, AICCTU, ...

Mixed response to trade union shutdown call in Karnataka

The two-day nationwide shutdown called by trade unions evoked a mixed response in Karnataka on Tuesday, with government offices and bus services functioning normally in most parts of the state.

Trade strike gets mixed response in TN

The two-day nationwide strike called by the central trade unions received a mixed response in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday, said a senior leader of Labour Progressive Union (LPF).

Graphic: More U.S. regions see job openings outnumbering jobless

WASHINGTON/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Job openings are outnumbering unemployed workers across increasingly wide swaths of the United States, forcing businesses to rethink how they find workers, which could keep pressure on the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates despite a global economic slowdown.

Trade Unions strike: Over 20 lakh workers to take part

More than 20 lakh employees and workers of public, private and unorganised sectors in Telangana are expected to participate in the two-day nation-wide strike called by ten central trade unions against the "anti-people" policies of the Centre, a senior CITU leader said Tuesday. "We expect over 20 lakh workers and employees of various private, government and unorganised sectors to participate in the 48-hour strike. Emergency service providers such as hospitals are exempted from the strike. Railway employees are not directly participating in the strike. But they will hold protest rallies at their respective offices during lunch hour," M Saibabu Telangana CITU General secretary told PTI. The strike call was given by INTUC, AITUC, HMS, CITU, AIUTUC, AICCTU, UTUC, TUCC, LPF and SEWA to protest the "anti-people" policies of the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre. Ruling TRS party-backed trade bodies in Singareni Collieries Company Limited and Telangana State Road ...

Buses go off roads as BEST staffers go on strike

Over 33,000 employees of Mumbai's civic transport undertaking BEST went on an indefinite strike since midnight over their demands, including higher wages, paralysing bus services and causing inconvenience to nearly 25-lakh daily commuters. Responding to a call given by their union leaders, the agitating staff did not take out any bus from all 27 depots on Tuesday, even as the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) administration and an industrial court declared the strike as "illegal". The BEST has a fleet of over 3,200-red-colour buses which criss-cross the metropolis and also operate services in the neighbouring Thane district and Navi Mumbai. It is the second-biggest mode of transport in Mumbai after local trains, which ferry over 80-lakh passengers every day. The employees are demanding higher salaries, merging budget of the loss-making BEST with that of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), deliberations on new wage agreement, resuming appointments on ...

Normalcy affected in Mumbai after BEST employees go on indefinite strike

Commuters plying in buses in Mumbai are facing trouble after the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply Transport (BEST) employees decided to go on an indefinite strike from Monday night against the inaction of the authorities towards fulfilling their demands."As per the latest information from Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation control (BMC) room, BEST buses will be on an indefinite strike from 5 am on Tuesday," tweeted Mumbai Police.On Tuesday, BEST buses were seen off roads supporting the indefinite strike, affecting normalcy in the financial capital of the country. Officer goers were also facing trouble due to the strike.The Best employees, from a long time, have been demanding for merging of BEST budget with 'A' budget of BMC. They are also seeking resolution of the issue of employee service residences and recruitment. When the talks with the authorities failed, the employees resorted to the strike.To reach to their destination on time, Mumbaikars had to resort to other modes of ...

Two-day Union strike affects normalcy across country

Scores of trade unions across the nation are on a two-day nationwide strike commencing Tuesday to protest against theNarendra Modi led-government's alleged anti-worker policies and unilateral labour reforms.One of the major demands putforth by the protesters is to include enactment of theSocial Security Act and setting of a minimum wage of Rs 24,000 for unorganised transport workers.The trade union strike affected normalcy across the country. In Bhubaneswar, protesters picketed and burnt tyres at a railway station as mark of their protest.The impact of protest was intense in Kolkata, where agitators took to streets, disrupting office-time traffic. The police soon swept into action and detained a couple of CPI-M workers for allegedly fanning violence in the region in the view of the trade union strike.The protests are not only affecting normalcy in the metropolitant cities but other states too saw a similar sight. In Bengaluru, commuters were facing trouble going to offices as ...

11 million jobs lost in 2018 - one-third of them by the salaried class

India's unemployment rate shot up to 7.4 per cent in December 2018, the highest in 15 months

Left unions to begin nationwide strike on Tuesday

The Left affiliated Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) will begin its two-day nationwide general strike on Tuesday to protest against "anti-labour, anti-people and anti-national policies" of the Modi government.

Telangana govt rescues 22,000 missing children in four years

More than 22,000 children from different states have been rescued and restored to their families under 'Operation Muskan (Smile)' programme during the last four years, police said Monday. Relevant cases were registered and investigated, a police release said. Since January 2015, four such operations had been conducted and children from different states rescued and restored to their parents, it said. Operation Muskan is conducted during January and July for a period of one month to trace missing children, children involved in child labour, bonded labour, micro industries, begging besides trafficked children, rescue them and restore them to their parents and family members, according to the release. The state Police Monday launched the operation's fifth version at the office of the Director General of Police here, it added.

Industrial court restrains BEST workers from going on strike

An industrial court here Monday restrained employees of the civic-run Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) Undertaking from going on a strike from midnight. Employees affiliated to the BEST Workers Union had declared they would to go on strike from Monday midnight alleging that mounting BEST losses were causing delays in salary disbursal. The union also demanded that BEST and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) budgets be merged. The BEST management had declared the strike illegal and issued internal circulars warning staffers of strict action if they proceeded with it. It further said provisions of Maharashtra Essential Services Maintenance Act (MESMA) would be invoked against the union workers if they went ahead with the strike. When all talks between the parties failed, the BEST management approached the Industrial Court here seeking relief against the strike. Industrial Court Member S V Suryawanshi, after hearing brief arguments, restrained union ...

CITU slams Delhi Lt Governor for invoking ESMA

CITU has slammed Lt Governor of Delhi Anil Baijal for invoking ESMA and preventing electricity employees and engineers in NCT Delhi from joining the nationwide workers general strike on January 8 and 9. Baijal issued the notification using Haryana Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA), 1974. ESMA was established to ensure the delivery of certain services, which if obstructed would affect the normal life of the people. The Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) in a statement alleged that the ESMA notice was issued selectively against joining the strike call of the organisation even though it was the joint call of 10 central trade unions and most of the independent national federations of workers and employees. CITU condemned intimidation by some state governments, including West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, threatening termination of service, service break, eight-day wage cuts, etc., "attacking the constitutional, statutory and democratic rights of the workers and employees." The trade ...

Bihar govt reaches out to electronics, telecom firms for skilling, employing state's youths

The Bihar government Monday reached out to electronics and telecom companies and industry bodies for skilling of youths of the state and providing them employment opportunities. "We have been running 'recruit, train and deploy' programme for the last two years. Now we want electronics and telecom companies to be part of it. Under which, the Bihar government will meet the training and recruitment related costs for youth to make them employable in companies," Dipak Kumar Singh, principal secretary, Labour Resources and CEO, Bihar Skill Development Mission (BSDM), said after a meeting with industry players here. Singh said the state government has no shortage of funds for skilling youths in the state. "Our Chief Minister (Nitish Kumar) wants youths to get jobs. There will be no cap on the number of youth that can be trained for employment in electronics and mobile phone companies," the official said at the Mobile Manufacturers Conclave organised by the BSDM. He said that due to ...

Belgian-French road blocked in protest against EU transport

Traffic jams formed on a highway between France and Belgium on Monday during the first of a series of protests that unions plan in EU countries against reforms affecting lorry and bus drivers. Police said traffic backed up several kilometres (miles) for around 90 minutes Monday morning because of a protest called by a Belgian transport union near Rekkem in Belgium's west Flanders. The union is part of the European Transport Workers' Federation (ETF) which opposes proposed EU reforms that could reduce rest time for truck and bus drivers. ETF officials said there could be more protests in countries like France and the Netherlands before the European Parliament debates the reforms on Thursday. They added unions in Italy are prepared to stage a national strike if the parliament's transport committee adopts many of the new rules. "There was a blockage from the lorry drivers near Rekkem on the E17 toward France," the Belgian federal police's press attach? told AFP. John Reynaert, deputy ...

Sena hits out at PM Modi for CMIE report on 1 cr job losses

The Shiv Sena Monday took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi claiming that he should take responsibility for job losses in the country if he sought credit for its creation. In an editorial in party mouthpiece 'Saamana', the Sena, a constituent of the BJP-led governments at the Centre and in Maharashtra, cited a Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) report which claimed 1.09 crore jobs were lost in the country in the past one year. "If Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks credit for creating 70 lakh jobs, then he should take the responsibility for the loss of 1.09 crore jobs in one year," the Sena editorial stated. The BJP's bickering ally went on to caution the Centre that the youth who had voted it to power could also dethrone it. "The BJP government should not play with the emotions of unemployed youth in search of jobs," the Sena warned. "First you make huge promises, then claim their completion. But in the last four years, none of it has materialised. The ..