New Delhi, July 24 (KNN) The Minister for Labour and Employment, Santosh Kumar Gangwar introduced two labour codes- the Code on Wages and the Code on Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (OSH) in the Lok Sabha. The Bills, if passed, are expected to benefit about 50-crore workers.

Gangwar said that the proposed bill is being introduced after wide consultations with Trade Unions, employers and all the other stakeholders.

The proposed OSH Code enhances the coverage of workers manifold as it would be applicable to all establishments employing 10 or more workers, where any industry, trade, business, manufacture or occupation is carried on, including, IT establishments or establishments of service sector, according to Ministry.

Whereas the Wages Code universalizes the provision of minimum wages and their timely payment to all employees irrespective of the sector and wage ceiling.

Ministry said “It can be said that a historical step for ensuring statutory protection for minimum wage and timely payment of wage to 50 crore worker in the country has been taken through the Code on Wages besides promoting ease of living and ease of doing business.”

The Code on Wages is the first of four proposed labour bills long envisaged to replace 44 archaic labour laws. It aims to set standards of minimum wages across industry, including small businesses, which employ nearly 90 percent of India’s work force.

It will repeal four labour laws, including one on wage payment passed in 1936 and one on minimum wages dating to 1948.

The government is also working on two more codes. All the four, once enacted, will subsume 44 labour laws.

Commenting on this, the Centre of Indian Trade Unions said “The Government introduced the Code on Wages Bill 2019 and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code Bill 2019 in Lok Sabha. The contents of both the Bills totally ignored all the points of oppositions and reservations on various provisions of both the Bills curtailing the rights of the workers and prejudicial to their interests raised by all the central trade union organizations.”

It said that the so called labour-law reforms which are all designed to replace the existing labour laws by four labour codes, meticulously removing and/or grossly diluting all rights and provisions of protection for workers in the existing labour laws.

The exercise is also aimed at pushing out a large section of workforce out of the coverage of all labour laws through increasing the threshold level of employment in establishment and repealing of a big number of labour laws meant for certain specific section of employees/workers viz., sales promotion employees, working journalists etc, it added.

Even on Health and Safety related matters, the Code has so articulated the provisions as the workers and their unions cannot assert their opinions and rights for proper enforcement or establish the accountability of the employers for violation of even the basic health and safety provisions which is a common and daily phenomenon in the workplaces across the sectors throughout the country leading to loss of lives and disabling injuries almost every day, said CITU.