New Delhi: In a major decision, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a bill that seeks to merge 13 central labour laws into a single code which would apply on all establishments employing 10 or more workers.
The proposed Code on Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Bill, 2019, would enhance the coverage of workers manifold, an official release said.
The decision was taken at the union cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Environment and Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said. Among the four labour codes that the centre has planned to draft, the second code covers 13 labour laws, Labour minister Santosh Gangwar said in a press conference at Shastri Bhawan here.
The Factories Act, 1948, the Mines Act, 1952, the Dock Workers (Safety, Health and Welfare) Act, 1986, the Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996, the Plantations Labour Act, 1951, the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970, the Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979, the Working Journalist and other Newspaper Employees (Conditions of Service and Misc. Provision) Act, 1955, the Working Journalist (Fixation of rates of wages) Act, 1958, the Motor Transport Workers Act, 1961, Sales Promotion Employees (Condition of Service) Act, 1976, the Beedi and Cigar Workers (Conditions of Employment) Act, 1966 and the Cine Workers and Cinema Theatre Workers Act, 1981 comes under the labour code that has been approved by the government.
The labour minister also avouched that around 40 crore labours across the country will be benefited.
Moreover, the centre has fixed minimum wages Rs. 178/- per day for the unorganised labour force as many states still pay Rs. 50-60/- to them.
Gangwar added further that the labours will get appointment letter and a fixed routine health check-up. This will be conveyed to all state governments. The centre will also take proper measure to monitor the mechanism, the minister told presspersons.
"With the ultimate aim of extending the safety and healthy working conditions to all the workforce of the country, the Code enhances the ambit of provisions of safety, health, welfare and working conditions from existing about 9 major sectors to all establishments having 10 or more employees," the labour ministry mentioned in a release.