Page 41 - Labor
Lawsuit against H-4 visa authorisation moves forward as US court removes case from abeyance
A top US court has removed from abeyance a lawsuit challenging work authorisation to H-4 visa holders after the Trump administration delayed a formal notification over the issue that can impact spouses of H-1B visa holders that include Indians. The Barack Obama administration in 2015 allowed H4 visa-holders - mainly spouses of the H-1B visa-holders - to be gainfully employed in the US. The group 'Save Jobs USA' took the matter to the appeals court after a district court upheld the Obama administration's decision. The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations. H-4 visas are issued to the spouses of H-1B visa holders, a significantly large number of whom are high-skilled professionals from India. The US Court of Appeals, District of Columbia, in its order on December 17 ordered that the motion to schedule briefing and oral argument be granted and this case challenging work authorisation to of H-4 visa holders "be ...
NASA hack compromises data of current, former employees
Personal information of some current and former employees of NASA were stolen in a data breach in October, CNET's sister site ZDNet reported on Wednesday.
Delhi CM appeals commercial establishments to pay min wages
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Tuesday appealed to commercial establishments here to pay minimum wages as notified by the Delhi government to their employees. The Delhi government is committed to ensuring the payment of minimum wages to workers in the national capital, he said. The Aam Aadmi Party government has launched a 10-day special drive to check the implementation of minimum wages rules by both private and public institutions in the city. "The Delhi government is committed to ensuring payment of minimum wages to poor (workers). I appeal to all commercial establishments to pay minimum wages to their employees so that we do not have to conduct raids," Kejriwal tweeted in Hindi. As part of the drive, teams of labour department have inspected 103 institutions across the city. On Monday, Labour Minister Gopal Rai inspected the Hotel Taj Palace and found alleged irregularities in the payment of salaries to workers of its engineer-wing by an outsourcing company, an official statement .
PMAY (U) has created over 6 cr jobs in country: Govt
The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) is believed to have generated employment for over six crore people in the country, the government told Lok Sabha on Tuesday. Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said as per the 2014 study report of the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), for every Rs 1 lakh invested in the housing sector, 2.65 new jobs are created in the economy. "On this basis, it is estimated that a total of 6.07 crore employment might have so far been generated through implementation of the PMAY (U) across the country," the housing and urban affairs minister said in a written response to a question. The ministry said it refers to the number of jobs created irrespective of duration. The PMAY (U), launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June 2015, aims to ensure "Housing for all by 2022" by providing financial assistance to a beneficiary. The government has set a target of one crore houses to be constructed in urban areas across the country over a period of .
NHRC seeks reports from Maharashtra, Labour ministry over hospital blaze
The National Human Rights Commission on Tuesday sought a report from the Maharashtra government on the death of eight people in a fire at a hospital in Mumbai, while not ruling out negligence by the hospital administration.
Akhilesh Yadav criticises Kamal Nath's claim of UP, Bihar workers taking up jobs in MP
Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav Tuesday criticised Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath's claim that people from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh deny employment to youth of his state. After taking oath of office on Monday, Nath also announced government incentives to industries which give 70 per cent of their jobs to the youths of his state and added that people from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh get employment in Madhya Pradesh at the cost of the local population. Yadav termed the suggestion "wrong". "We used to hear such things from Maharastra, where it is being said why North Indians come here, do business and take jobs. Similar voices came from Delhi. Now its from MP," Yadav told reporters on the sidelines of an event at the party headquarters here. Nath had indicated that people from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh take job opportunities from the youth of MP. When asked about farmers' loan waiver decision in MP, Yadav said, "A one line order has been passed for this. They have decided to ..
Par panel for bringing TV, digital entertainment industry workers under cine workers law
A Parliamentary panel has made a case for bringing workers in TV, broadcasting, digital entertainment, advertisement sectors under the Cine Workers and Cinema Theatre Workers (Regulation & Employment) Act, 1981, and double the pay for all workmen under the law. The panel suggested to double the pay Rs 16,000 per month or Rs 2 lakh if paid in lump sum under the law. "The Cinema Theatre Workers (Regulation & Employment) Act 1981 did not include television, broadcasting, digital entertainment, advertisement industry workers under it ambit....recommend that clause 2(c) of the said Act be amended to include television, broadcasting, digital entertainment, advertisement industry workers at the earliest," the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour said in its report on 'Safety, Security and Welfare of television, broadcasting, digital entertainment, advertisement industry workers' tabled in Parliament today. Noting that the remuneration of cine workers was increased to Rs 8,000 ..
NHRC issues notice to Maharashtra govt, Labour Ministry over fire in Mumbai hospital
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) issued a notice to the Maharashtra government and the Union Labour Ministry on Tuesday over a fire incident at a Mumbai hospital in which six people were killed. The commission has also asked for a detailed report within four weeks, including action taken against the guilty, if any, an official statement said. The NHRC took suo motu cognisance in the incident over media reports that a massive fire engulfed the Employees State Insurance Corporation Hospital in the Andheri (East) area of Mumbai on Monday, killing six people and injuring 141 others. In its statement, the NHRC said it had observed that the possibility of negligence by the hospital administration could not be ruled out in the incident. Hence, a notice was issued to the chief secretary of the government of Maharashtra, calling for a detailed report, including the outcome of the probe reportedly mentioned by the city mayor, it said. The commission would like to know if the building
Despite promises, Modi govt has been unable to create jobs: Trinamool Congress
Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress on Tuesday took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and alleged that despite promises made by him, the government has not been able to create job opportunities for the youth. Addressing a press briefing, the Trinamool's parliamentary party leader in Rajya Sabha Derek O'Brien said that the government was using data selectively. "Shifting time series, and the selective use of data deflects attention from the quality of jobs that are being created and whether they are in fact 'new jobs'...PM Modi promised in 2015 that he will turn India into the 'human resource Capital of the world'. In 2018, India ranks 158/195 nations on the Human Capital Index, just behind Sudan," O'Brien said. He said wages in India continue to be well below the seventh pay commission and when adjusted for inflation, wage rates have grown in most sectors at three per cent per annum. "31 million Indians are without a job...10 per cent increase in GDP results in less than one per .
Tripura imposes restrictions on creating new govt jobs
Tripura government has imposed a set of restrictions on the creation of new government jobs and advised abolition of vacant posts, in case new posts are created. A memorandum issued by the Finance Department on Monday stated that Tripura already has the highest level of government employment in the country, in proportion to its population. Tripura has roughly 200,000 government employees, including 60,000 pensioners. The estimated population of the state is 4,000,000. "The need for this provision arises due to the fact that salaries and wages constitute the largest item of expenditure and it is absolutely necessary to exercise financial prudence and discipline while committing expenditure under these heads. "Hence, whenever a department submits a proposal for post creation, it should be accompanied by a proposal for surrender/abolition of posts with equivalent financial implications, the memorandum signed by Chief Secretary L K Gupta, who also holds the Finance ...
UST Global Awarded 'Top Employers in the APAC for 2019' by the Top Employers Institute
/ -- UST Global, a leading digital transformation solutions company, has been awarded the prestigious 'Top Employers in the APAC for 2019' certification for its India, Malaysia and Philippines location. The Top Employers Institute announced the results of its annual research into a large number of employers and their employee conditions around the world. (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/540539/UST_Global_Logo.jpg ) UST Global earned the certification as a Top Employer as its employee offerings across all measured criteria surpassed the required level. The Top Employers Institute assessed UST Global's employee offerings around Talent Strategy, Leadership Development, Workforce Planning, Career & Succession Management, On-Boarding, Compensation & Benefits, Learning & Development, Culture, and Performance Management. The Top Employers Institute is an independent organization which uncovers the employee offerings of significant employers around the world, measuring ...
Gender equality at work more than 200 years off: WEF
Women may be shouting louder than ever for equal treatment and pay, but a report out Tuesday indicates it will take centuries to achieve gender parity in workplaces around the globe. The World Economic Forum (WEF) report said there had been some improvements in wage equality this year compared to 2017, when the global gender gap widened for the first time in a decade. But it warned that these were offset by declining representation of women in politics, coupled with greater inequality in their access to health and education. At current rates, the global gender gap across a range of areas will not close for another 108 years, while it is expected to take 202 years to close the workplace gap, WEF found. The Geneva-based organisation's annual report tracked disparities between the sexes in 149 countries across four areas: education, health, economic opportunity and political empowerment. After years of advances in education, health and political representation, women registered setbacks .
Beefeaters and staff at several UK royal sites to strike
Beefeaters and staff at some of Britain's most famous royal sites including the Tower of London will start strikes later this week amid a dispute over pensions, their unions said. The staff and a small number of beefeaters -- who are ceremonial guardians at the tower -- voted "overwhelmingly" to walkout in ballots, according to the PCS and GMB unions. The actions will begin Friday with staff from Kensington Palace -- where Princes William and Harry live with their families -- Hampton Court Palace and the tower, they said. They will also then picket on the gates of the tower and at Hampton Court on January 8, GMB added. The royal sites are formally owned by the British monarchy but placed in trust and run by a charity, Historic Royal Palaces (HRP). The unions claim HRP has decided to replace employees' final salary pensions with "an inferior" alternative. "HRP are jumping on a bandwagon which is seeing employers engaging in a race to the bottom, ending good final salary schemes and ...
Irregularities in payment of salaries at Taj hotel: Rai
Delhi Labour Minister Gopal Rai Monday inspected the Hotel Taj Palace here and found irregularities in the payment of salaries to workers of its engineer-wing by an outsourcing company, an official statement said. The hotel spokesperson, however, maintained that they were complying with the minimum wage regulations. The Delhi government has launched a 10-day special drive to check the implementation of minimum wages rules by both private and public institutions in the city. After his inspection, Rai told reporters that in the engineer-wing of the 5 Star hotel, some people gave complaints that the outsourcing company was just paying them Rs 10,000 in violation of the laid down rules. "They (hotel management) do not have record of payment of salary of workers. Secondly, I felt by talking to the workers that they were threatened by the outsourcing company. We will also call them to record their statements separately," he said. Later in the evening, the government issued a statement, ...
3,861 empanelled conductors of KSRTC removed from service
: Acting on a directive from the Kerala High Court, the state transport Corporation (KSRTC) has removed 3,861 empanelled conductors from service. The order to this effect was issued Sunday by the court in Kochi to comply with its December 6 direction on a petition by Antony Stejo and others, who alleged that these conductors were blocking recruitment of conductors in the Public Service Commission (PSC) rank list to the post of reserve conductors. The court had held that the vacant posts should be filled from the rank list of the PSC. "The workers have been disengaged. They were told yesterday not to report for duty from Monday", Tomin J Thachankary, KSRTC Managing Director, told PTI. The High Court Monday asked Thachankary to file a compliance report on the termination of the 3,861 empanelled employees after turning down the corporation's plea for two months time to comply with the direction. A division bench, headed by Justice V Chidambaresh, declined KSRTC'S plea and ...
German union calls strike at Amazon warehouses
DUESSELDORF, Germany (Reuters) - German trade union Verdi called on workers at two Amazon logistic centres to strike on Monday, part of a long-running campaign for better pay and conditions.
Ghaziabad park contract terminated
The Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation has initiated action to terminate the contract to run the Indira Priyadarshini Park after finding irregularities by two companies linked to politicians.
Israel's tech sector faces challenge from shortage of workers
TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Israel is struggling to recruit enough workers to its technology sector, a report showed on Sunday, creating a challenge for an industry seen as the country's main potential driver of economic growth over the next decade.
Nasscom partners IIT-Madras for training workforce in digital skills
Industry body Nasscom has collaborated with the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras for its FutureSkills Platform that is targeted at re-skilling/upskilling four million people on digital skills. Under its FutureSkills Platform, Nasscom aims to re-skill/upskill four million people from the IT-ITeS industry, students entering the workforce and employees of other industries/government on digital skills. "The partnership (with IIT-Madras) will facilitate the building of an able workforce to support the industry and other stakeholders. This will ensure that there is plenty of trained manpower for the jobs being created in the evolving ecosystem," Nasscom said in a statement. The partnership will be directly with the Sector Skills Council (SSC) which is the education and skill development initiative of Nasscom. The SSC and IIT Madras will work towards building a skills academy and establish a program with extensive courses and training programmes to facilitate skill building in the ...
'Yellow vests' protests witness drop in number of demonstrators
The 'yellow-vests' protests that continued for the fifth consecutive weekend saw a dip in the number of demonstrators here on Saturday, after French President Emmanuel Macron announced a series of financial measures on Monday seeking to defuse the revolt that had triggered violent protests across the country.South China Morning Post cited the data released by the French Interior Ministry and reported that only a few hundred people took to streets for the demonstration, equivalent to half the total number of protestors gathered at the French capital last weekend.Meanwhile, the police gathered to control the mob at the French capital outnumbered the demonstrators by nearly 4-1 in the afternoon. Few incidents of firing tear gas were reported which amounted to only a fraction of that used on the previous weekends.On Monday (December 10), the French President rolled out "an economic and social emergency plan" which involves an increase in minimum wages and tax cut.Xinhua, quoted Macron, ...