Page 49 - Labor

Infosys to open Technology and Innovation Hub in Texas

The Texas Technology and Innovation Hub represents a key milestone in Infosys' digital transformation campaign for the Americas and builds upon its May 2017 announcement to hire 10,000 American workers by 2019. Infosys has hired over 6,200 American workers since May 2017.

Rs 4.19 lakh crore investment proposals received: Odisha CM

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday claimed to have got investment proposals to the tune of Rs 4.19 lakh crore during the ongoing 'Make in Odisha Conclave-2018' here.Patnaik, while addressing the gathering, said: "Our aim is not only to make the youths industry ready but also to make them skilled in future technology." He also informed that for this initiative Japan has agreed to be a partner in this initiative.He said that the main aim of this conclave is to get diversified investments and generate employment for the youths of the state. Patnaik informed that the state received an investment proposal of Rs 4,19,574 crore so far. He said these proposed investments would help to eradicate unemployment among the youths.The Chief Minister also announced the date of the 3rd edition of the conclave slated to take place in 2020. "I am happy to inform you that we would be organizing the 3rd edition of the Make in Odisha Conclave from November 30 to December 4, in 2020," he said.

Royal Enfield employees call off strike

: Motorcycle-manufacturer Royal Enfield has said the workers, who have been on strike since September 24 to press for various demands such as wage revision and bonus, reported for duty Tuesday. All the three plants of the company - Oragadam, Thiruvottriyur and Vallam Vadagal - resumed operation to full capacity, Royal Enfield said. Vice-president of Working People Trade Union Council and Royal Enfield Employees' Union R Sampath told PTI that 4,000 workers of the total 6,000-strong workforce had kept off duty seeking wage revision and bonus. The employees were also against the reported move of the management that mobile phones of the workers should be left at the office of the security personnel before entering the premises of the Oragadam factory. "Royal Enfield is deeply committed to maintain and furthering cordial relations with its workforce. We continue to maintain the highest standards of conduct and discipline, team work and respect for one another," the company ...

Number of EU workers slides before Brexit: data

The number of EU workers in Britain sank in the third quarter by the largest amount since records began, official data showed Tuesday ahead of Brexit. The total of European Union nationals working in Britain fell 132,000 to 2.25 million in the three months to September from a year earlier, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement. That was the biggest annual decline since the ONS started compiling the data in 1997, and was driven by fewer Eastern Europeans working in Britain. The overall number of EU workers has now fallen for the last three quarters, down from a high of 2.4 million a year ago. The news comes amid growing expectation that London could soon agree a Brexit deal with Brussels, ahead of the nation's departure at the end of March. The ONS added Tuesday that the total number of unemployed people in Britain rose 21,000 to 1.38 million people in the third quarter. The overall jobless rate -- which is the proportion of of the workforce that is unemployed -- ...

Government sabotaging BSNL, claims trade unions

The government has sabotaged the state owned telecom major Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) by not offering level playing field and releasing its dues at the hours of crisis, BSNL trade unions said here on Tuesday. The trade unions want the government release 4G spectrum to the BSNL to compete in the highly-competitive telecom market. In protest, members of the trade unions will bring out a procession across the country on November 14, All Unions & Association of BSNL West Bengal convenor Animesh Mitra said. "BSNL was converted to a company 18 years before when the BJP was in power. Since then, consecutive governments have not done anything to change its situation for the better, and continued to sabotage the BSNL," Mitra said. "BSNL is not able to modernise due to lack of 4G spectrum and funds. The government has not even returned Rs 8000 crore for surrender of spectrum in 2013, another trade union leader Tapas Ghosh said. Mitra said government had been asked to ...

'Hunar Haat' proved to be employment exchange for artisans: Naqvi

The Minority Affairs Ministry's 'Hunar Haat' initiative has proved to be an "employment exchange" for master artisans and craftsmen, Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi Tuesday said. The ministry is organising Hunar Haat at India International Trade Fair (IITF) at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi fromNovember 14-27 and the minister will formally inaugurate it on Thursday, a statement from the minister's office said. The 'Hunar Haat' at Pragati Maidan is a part of series being organised in various parts of the country under a mission to provide market and opportunity to master artisans and craftsmen. Master artisans, including a large number of women artisans, from across the country are participating in the 'Hunar Haat' starting on Wednesday, Naqvi said. The artisans will bring with them very exquisite pieces of handicraft and handloom work products such as ajarakh, bagh print, bandhej, copperware, ceramic products, among others. Naqvi said the employment oriented programmes of the ...

India sits on volcano of unemployment after demonetisation, GST: Chidambaram

Analysing the current situation of the Indian economy, former Finance Minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram here on Sunday underlined that ever since demonetisation and the Goods and Services Tax (GST) were rolled out by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government, jobs are a 'scarce' even for college pass-outs making India sit on a volcano of unemployment."Jobs were destroyed due to demonetisation and GST. New jobs are scarce even for college-educated youth. Many unemployed people have given up seeking employment because the situation is hopeless. I am afraid we are sitting on a volcano. Growing unemployment is a volcano that can erupt at any time. The government that promised to create two crore jobs a year is utterly clueless. The overall economic situation of the country is quite fragile. There is no sign of recovery," Chidambaram told media here.Talking about GST, Chidambaram said: "After the UPA rolled out VAT smoothly in 2014-15, the next logical step was GST.

Gave more jobs than what was promised: BJP's Rajasthan unit

The BJP's Rajasthan unit has claimed that the party-led government in the state generated employment for 44 lakh people and the number was much more than what was promised. The party's state unit tweeted on Friday,"The BJP had promised to generate employment for 15 lakh people, though more than 44 lakh people were given jobs. The Congress' state unit chief Sachin Pilot said that the BJP's claim was "baseless and irresponsible". The chief minister should first make public the list of those 15 lakh 'fortunate unemployed' who got jobs in the last 59 months and then tell that who are the remaining 29 lakh who were given jobs, Pilot said in a statement issued here on Saturday. He said the BJP's claim has hurt the sentiments of youths. Citing an analysis conducted by an institute, Pilot claimed that the unemployment rate in the state increased from 3.2 per cent to 7.7 per cent in five years. Pilot also asked the chief minister to study the CAG report "which has highlighted the failure of ...

Chhattisgarh polls: Cong releases manifesto, promises farm sops

Congress chief Rahul Gandhi Friday released the party's manifesto for Chhattisgarh which promises farm loan waiver, minimum support price for crops as per the Swaminathan Commission recommendations and ban on liquor sales. The state will go to polls in two phases on November 12 and November 20 and counting of votes will take place on December 11. Gandhi released the manifesto, titled "Jan Ghoshna Patra" in Rajnandgaon, which is the constituency of Chief Minister Raman Singh. Addressing a press conference on the occasion, Gandhi said that farmers' loans would be waived within 10 days of the party attaining power. The MSP for paddy will be fixed at Rs 2,500 per quintal and maize at Rs 1,700 per quintal, Gandhi said. Besides, a provision of pension for farmers aged above 60 years has also been planned, the Congress chief said. The manifesto also promised halving electricity bills for domestic consumers, provisioning of houses and land to urban and rural families respectively. Every ...

'Dramatic increase' in number of H-1B visas being held up: Compete America

There has been a "dramatic increase" in the number of H-1B visas being held up, a coalition of American employers representing top IT companies like Google, Facebook and Microsoft has said and alleged that the US immigration agency was "acting outside" of its own regulations. The H1B visa, popular among Indian IT companies and professionals, is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. The technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China. "We have observed three changes in H-1B adjudication practices under the current administration that seem to permeate most of the increased H-1B adjudication inconsistencies experienced by employers," Compete America said in a letter to the Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen and Director of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Francis ...

Cong leader supports Sena's damning comments on note ban

A Congress leader Friday termed the Shiv Sena's comments a day earlier on demonetisation as "fairly accurate" but also asked the latter if it would continue to be a part of the BJP-led governments at the Centre and Maharashtra. Shiv Sena spokesperson Manisha Kayande had Thursday slammed the note ban decision of the Centre and had claimed that "the situation after two years has become so bad that people are waiting to punish the PM". On November 8, 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a ban on Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 denomination bank notes with immediate effect. "Interesting...Statement & observation by long term ally of #BJP over #DemonetisationDisaster is fairly accurate...Now, whether .#ShivSena will sail the same boat to be downed in #Maharashtra or chart a different course is yet to be seen... Time will tell!" All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary in charge of Maharashtra Ashish Dua tweeted Friday. The Sena spokesperson Thursday had also claimed the

S Korea's Moon sacks finance minister, policy chief

South Korean President Moon Jae-in sacked his top two economic officials Friday, the government said, as the world's 11th-largest economy struggles with slowing growth, rising unemployment and persistent income gaps. Finance minister Kim Dong-yeon and presidential chief of staff for policy Jang Ha-sung had both been replaced, top Blue House spokesman Yoon Young-chan said in a televised statement. The pair had reportedly been at odds with each other over how to address the situation. Moon's global profile has been dominated by his role in the rapid diplomatic rapprochement with nuclear-armed North Korea but at home his handling of the economy has become increasingly controversial, contributing to falling poll ratings. His administration has steeply raised South Korea's minimum wages, cut working hours and converted temporary staff to permanent in a series of redistributive moves it says will lead to what it calls "income-led growth". It is a marked change from the growth model of the ..

Analysis: Australian pay packets squeezed as more employers take 'nuclear option'

SYDNEY (Reuters) - In Australia, it's known as the "nuclear option". An employer applies to the court to rip up an expiring wages deal, puts workers back on their industry's minimum pay, and then negotiates a new contract.

Google bows to worker pressure on sexual misconduct policy

Google is promising to be more forceful and open about its handling of sexual misconduct cases, a week after thousands of high-paid engineers and others walked out in protest over its male-dominated culture. Google bowed to one of the protesters' main demands by dropping mandatory arbitration of all sexual misconduct cases. That will now be optional, so workers can choose to sue in court and present their case in front of a jury. It mirrors a change made by ride-hailing service Uber after complaints from its female employees prompted an internal investigation. The probe concluded that its rank had been poisoned by rampant sexual harassment. "Google's leaders and I have heard your feedback and have been moved by the stories you've shared," CEO Sundar Pichai said in an email to Google employees. "We recognize that we have not always gotten everything right in the past and we are sincerely sorry for that. It's clear we need to make some changes." Thursday's email was obtained by The ...

Virgin Atlantic could face pilots' strike over benefits

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Virgin Atlantic could face industrial action from some of its pilots after a union representing over half of them said it is preparing to ballot members over strike action.

Google outlines improved handling of harassment claims

Google chief Sundar Pichai on Thursday outlined changes to how the internet giant handles sexual harassment complaints, hoping to calm outrage that triggered a worldwide walkout of workers last week. "We recognize that we have not always gotten everything right in the past and we are sincerely sorry for that," Pichai said in an email message to employees, a copy of which was shared with AFP. "It's clear we need to make some changes." Pichai promised that Google will be more transparent with how concerns are handled, and provide better support and care to those who raise such issues with the company. Google will provide "more granularity," regarding sexual harassment investigations and their outcomes, according to Pichai. He also said Google is consolidating the complaint system and that the process for handling concerns will include providing support people and counselors. Google will update its mandatory sexual harassment training, and make arbitration of claims optional instead of ..

AI ground handling staff call off strike at Mumbai Airport

A strike by a section of employees of Air-India's ground handling subsidiary, AIATSL, over non-payment of Diwali bonus and other issues, was called off late Thursday, a senior official said. The strike was called off after discussion with the management, a senior AIATSL official told PTI. All other issues have been sorted out and employees are back to work and flight operations are normal now, he added. The employees of the Air India Air Transport Services Ltd (AIATSL) struck work at the Mumbai airport from the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday, demanding payment of Diwali bonus and reinstatement of three of their colleagues whose contracts were not renewed by the company, he said. The employees whose contracts were not renewed have not been taken back, the official said. AIATSL, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the national carrier, provides ground handling services to Air India across airports in the country. It has about 5,000 employees, including those on contract. "Some ...

Demonetisation: People waiting to punish PM Modi, claims Sena

The Shiv Sena Thursday said people were waiting to punish Prime Minister Narendra Modi for announcing demonetisation two years ago. On November 8, 2016, PM Modi announced a ban on then in use Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 denomination bank notes with immediate effect. The Sena, a constituent of the BJP-led governments at the Centre and in Maharashtra, claimed the note ban exercise was a "complete failure" as none of its objectives were achieved. "While the (Union) Finance Minister says more number of people have been brought under the tax net, he has failed to explain the rationale behind it (demonetisation) as several lakh people lost jobs," Sena spokesperson Manisha Kayande said Thursday. She said elimination of terrorism and curb on fake currency, also touted as reasons for the demonetisation exercise, could not be achieved either. "The situation after two years has become so bad that people are waiting to punish the PM," she said. Kayande further claimed the "ongoing feud" ...

BJD activists agitate in Odisha against Central govt

Activists of the ruling BJD's students and youth wings on Thursday staged demonstrations in front of different central public sector units' offices, protesting the alleged failure of the Centre in providing jobs in the state. The agitators sat on dharnas in front of the MCL headquarters at Sambalpur, RSP at Rourkela, Oil refinery at Paradip and the offices of IOCL, Rail Sadan and Nalco here. "Narendra Modi-led BJP came to power on the promise of providing employment to 2 crore youths every year. Youths and students are protesting in front of the CPSUs as it has failed to keep its promise," said BJD MLA Sanjay Dasburma. Dasburma alleged that the PSUs are making "huge" profits in the state, but not creating employment opportunities for local youths. Rejecting the allegations, the BJP's state general secretary Prithviraj Harichandan said that BJD is not interested in strengthening the economy of the state. Harichandan said the agitation is aimed at covering up the ...

India, Italy pact on training of labour

The Union Cabinet on Thursday signed an agreement with Italy for training and education in the fields of labour and employment.