Policy Changes
Wage Ceiling under EPFO may be raised to 21K
The government is contemplating enhancing the wage ceiling under the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) to at least ₹21,000 from ₹15,000 now to widen the social security coverage, a step towards achieving universal social security.
Labour Demands
‘Bonded labour’: Air India pilot unions extend support to Vistara
Describing their situation akin to “bonded labour”, two Air India pilot unions extended their support to Vistara pilots on Thursday, who have raised grievances regarding the duty roster and the revised salary structure. Amid the slew of flight cancellations and delays, Vistara chief executive officer Vinod Kannan acknowledged on Wednesday that pilot utilisation in the airline was high, and announced plans to scale back its flight schedule and overhaul the rostering system to provide pilots with more rest time.
Women in the Workforce
What Muslim Women Face Every Day at Work
Muslim women with jobs in India’s booming corporate sectors are grappling with increasing Islamophobia at their workplaces and frequently encounter snide remarks and systemic discrimination. Several women from the minority community have underlined that they experience hiring bias, toxic bosses and harassment because of their religion.
Migrant worker awarded €143,000 for 'multiple labour law breaches' at WRC
A migrant worker who suffered alleged sexual harassment at a north Dublin restaurant has secured over €143,000 for gender discrimination and multiple labour law breaches at the Workplace Relations Commission.
Field Diary March 2024
A glance Into the lives of workers with bite-sized stories from factories, homes & communities. Read about how a leather homeworkers’ collective in Tamil Nadu Is challenging unfair wages while Bengaluru’s garment factory workers address access to social security.
AI and Jobs
Entry-level coders must specialise to minimise risk of job loss: Experts
According to an Adecco India report, there has been a 15-20 per cent drop in entry-level tech jobs across India, potentially linked to AI automation. “It’s important to remember that this decline could be due to a combination of factors, including economic conditions or a shift in skill requirements,” said Manu Saigal, director of General Staffing, Adecco India.
Layoffs and Hirings
Haryana: Protest Dharna by Closed Hisar DD Kendra Employees Enters 454th Day
Casual employees of Doordarshan Kendra have been on dharna for over 450 days in Sector 16 of Haryana’s Hisar, but their voices are going unheard. The centre was the lone Kendra in Haryana. The jobless casual employees, supported by local residents, have been demanding the restart of the Doordarshan (DD) Kendra in Hisar for over a year now. The DD station wound up operations in January last year, after it was shifted to Chandigarh, says a report in The Tribune.
IIT Delhi and Kanpur See Dip in Placements This Year: Report
Two premium institutions – the Indian Institutes of Technology at Delhi and Kanpur – have had a poor placement season this year compared to previous ones, according to a report in The Telegraph. The paper has spoken to education experts who have attributed this to jobs getting concentrated among a handful of companies at the expense of smaller firms and the unorganised sector.
Jobseekers
Translation app helps six Indians escape Russian war
When military officers asked them to sign an agreement in Russian, they used the app to translate the pact and realising the magnitude of the problem, initiated measures to get back to India. All hail from poor indigent and had borrowed from moneylenders to work as security personnel in Russia
Cambodia fake job scam explained: Over 5k Indians coerced into cybercrimes
The Indian Embassy has rescued 250 victims of illegal cyber work scam in Cambodia over the last three months. Here is everything you need to know about fake job scam
J&K: A Bus Ride From Budgam’s Villages in Search of Daily Employment
Dar is an unskilled labourer who goes to Srinagar city for work. The private bus he boarded will leave the village at 7.30 am and reach Hyderpora Chowk in 50 minutes. In the evening, he returns home by the same bus. This has been his daily routine, except on Fridays. Private buses have become the lifeline of people travelling to Srinagar in search of work, following a fall in prices of carpets they traditionally weaved in their households.
Migrant Realities
‘People question our identity all the time’
Many migrants from Assam have moved to this village in Haryana and work as waste pickers – the only jobs they can get. Despite the long hours, social and cultural stigma, tough working and living conditions, they say they have no choice but to continue.
Migrant worker tied to post, beaten to death by mob in Kerala; 10 held
Arunachal Pradesh native Ashokdas, 24, who was working at a restaurant in Ernakulam, was brutally attacked by a gang late on Thursday evening when he went to visit a woman co-worker.
Livelihoods
Empowering ‘SANIPRENEURS’: Leaders & Communities Join Forces to Address Sanitation and Scavenging Challenges
The key distinction between manual scavengers and sanitation workers lies in the fact that scavengers are typically self-employed individuals involved in the cleaning of septic tanks and latrines without adequate protective gear. They predominantly hail from the Dalit community, and this work further perpetuates their status of untouchability.
Exploited Workers
Essential Work, Dispensable Workers
Workers on the frontline of community health schemes are by design in an ambivalent position: performing essential government work but recognised only as volunteers and kept out of the protection of labour laws.
Govt Vacancies
We are in a ‘bad’ jobs crisis
The Government of India which remains to the largest employer in the country currently employs 30.13 lakh persons in civilian jobs, this number is at its lowest since 2010. There are over 9.64 lakh sanctioned positions that lie vacant. The government is hiring workers on contract or as honorarium workers to keep the wheel of government functioning.
Labour Laws
Labour codes may top new govt’s 100-day plan
Social security for informal sector workers, shift toward living wages likely to be part of near-term agenda. Insiders reveal that the upcoming government, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), may prioritize the swift implementation of streamlined labor codes within its first 100 days post-election. A senior government official disclosed that the objective is to introduce these labor codes at the onset of the next fiscal year, commencing April 1, 2025, to align with the business cycle.
Distressed Workers
84% Urban Poor In Delhi Say Their Income Not Enough To Meet Their Needs: Study
A major reason to worry is that 84% of the urban poor mentioned that their household income is not sufficient or falls short for meeting their needs — out of this, six in ten reported facing significant hardships, while three in ten acknowledged encountering some difficulty, a survey conducted in the slums of the national capital by Lokniti-CSDS in the first week of March suggested. It recorded the responses of 1,024 individuals, The Hindu reported.
Poll Promises
Nyay Patra Lok Sabha Election 2024
Page 6: The Congress guarantees that it will pass a constitutional amendment to raise the 50 per cent cap on reservations for SC, ST and OBC. • The reservation of 10 per cent in jobs and educational institutions for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) will be implemented for all castes and communities without discrimination. • We will fill all the backlog vacancies in posts reserved for SC, ST and OBC within a period of one year. • Congress will abolish the contractualisation of regular jobs in the government and public sector enterprises and ensure regularisation of such appointments. Page 11: Congress guarantees a new Right to Apprenticeship Act to provide a one year apprenticeship with a private or a public sector company to every diploma holder or college graduate below the age of 25. • We will provide fast-track courts to adjudicate cases of leaking question papers for job examinations and provide monetary compensation to the victims. • We will fill the nearly 30 lakh vacancies in sanctioned posts at various levels in the central government. We will stipulate that vacancies in the panchayats and municipal bodies shall be filled according to a timetable agreed with state governments. • Congress will restructure the Fund of Funds Scheme for start-ups and allocate 50 per cent of the available fund, as far as possible equally among all districts, for providing funds to youth below 40 years of age to start their own businesses and generate employment.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) Election Manifesto 18th Lok Sabha
The CPI(M) stands for the inclusion of the Right to Work as a constitutional right. The vacancies in government and public sector posts must be filled urgently. Strengthen and expand MSMEs which can generate jobs. The budgetary allocations for MGNREGA must be doubled; a new law guaranteeing urban employment must be legislated and an unemployment allowance must be provided. The destruction of India’s demographic dividend must be reversed through a change in current policies of job loss growth.