Parliamentary standing panel invites suggestions on Industrial Relations Code, Code on Social Security

Economic Times, January 15, 2020

The Parliamentary standing committee on labour has invited suggestions from all stakeholders and the public in general on the Industrial Relations Code, 2019 and the Code on Social Security, 2019 after the two labour codes were referred to the standing committee after being introduced in the Lok Sabha in the last winters session.

“The committee have decided to invite memorandum containing views and suggestions separately on each code from the public in general and NGOs/ experts/ stakeholders and institutions in particular,” labour ministry said in a statement.

The bills have been referred to the standing committee for examination and report within three months.

While the labour code on industrial relations proposes to restrict the powers of trade unions, the labour code on social security proposes giving employees an option to reduce their PF contribution, among others dozen proposal under each code.

The labour code on occupational safety, health and working conditions is already pending with standing committee for over four months and the ministry feels it will earliest be available for consideration in the Budget session.

The draft code on industrial relations has been prepared after amalgamating, simplifying and rationalising the relevant provisions of three Central Labour Acts — The Trade Unions Act, 1926, The Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946 and The Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.

The social security code bill proposes to set up a social security fund using the corpus available under corporate social responsibility. The fund will provide welfare benefits such as pension, medical cover, and death and disablement benefits to all workers, including gig workers.

Labour minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar had introduced both the bills in the Lok Sabha in the recently concluded winter session of Parliamentafter approval from union cabinet.

While the code on social security subsumes nine central labour laws, the code on industrial relations is an amalgamation of three laws. The move is part of the government’s vision to amalgamate 44 labour laws into four codes to improve ease of doing business in India and make these legislations labour friendly and in sync with the current requirements.

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