People's Democracy

TUs Demand Talks On Small & Medium Enterprises Bill

On October 23, six major central trade union organisations of the country, viz the CITU, AITUC, BMS, HMS,  UTUC and UTUC-LS, sent the following joint letter to the prime minister.

WE the undersigned central trade union organisations are constrained to invite your attention to the disquieting reports that the ministry of small scale industries is processing the Small & Medium Enterprises Development Bill 2005 for approval by the cabinet before the winter session of parliament.

This bill, which envisages major changes in crucial labour laws, to the utter disadvantage of labour, had been introduced in the Lok Sabha on May 12, 2005, without any consultation with the central trade union organisations right from the drafting stage, in spite of the fact that small and medium enterprises account for employing large proportion of the labour. There are also reports that even the ministry of labour & employment was not involved before the finalisation of the bill.

The department’s standing committee, which the bill had been referred to, did not deem it necessary to hear the views of the trade unions, even though the major industry associations were actively associated during the deliberations in the committee. 

 
You will agree that this goes totally against the letter and spirit of the NCMP, which committed that changes in labour laws must fully protect the interests of workers and families and must take place after full consultation with trade unions.

Sections 9(2) and (15), read with section (30), of the bill seek to exempt the small and medium enterprises from the obligation of labour laws pertaining to working conditions and social security, even while the government poses to be committed  to provide social security to all workers in the country and to improve their working conditions. These provisions, together with the altered definition of small and medium scale enterprises, as envisaged in the bill, are such that a large section of the workforce in this country would be thrown to the mercy of the employers.

We are of the firm opinion that the provisions of the bill are against the interests of labour. We request you to intervene in this matter and ensure to keep the bill in abeyance and to initiate discussions with the central trade union organisations in consultation with the ministry of labour & employment, instead of proceeding to legislate the bill in parliament.

  
We trust that you will agree that labour-management relations in our country must be marked by consultations, cooperation and consensus and not confrontation. We urge you to take necessary measures towards that end.

The signatories of the letter were W R Varada Rajan (CITU), Gurudas Dasgupta (AITUC), Girish Awasti (BMS), R A Mittal (HMS), Aboni Roy (UTUC) and R S Sharma (UTUC-LS). As the entire leadership of the Indian National Trade Union Congress is engaged in their all-India conference at Bangalore, their response to the draft circulated could not be obtained.