Analysis
The erosion of hard-won labour rights
By extending the hours of work and ensuring job insecurity, we are setting the clock back in the name of ease of doing business.
Labour laws' fairness challenge
Just having a 12-hour workday does not necessarily constitute exploitation. If implemented properly and without causing harm to workers, it could create a win-win situation.
News from States
Labour Day Gift: 10% of total crop loss compensation will now go to farm labourers, announces CM Mann
From now, 10 per cent of the total compensation for crop damage due to any natural calamity will go to the farm labourers in Punjab, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann Friday said. The decision has been taken keeping in mind the problems faced by farm labourers, who lose work and income when a crop gets damaged due to heavy rain or hailstorm and who usually are bereft of such compensation, he added.
Punjab declares public holiday on May Day
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann also announced a rescheduling of the office timings from May 2. The offices will open at 7:30 am and close at 2 pm every day till July 15.
Himachal government regularises services of contractual, daily wage employees
The Himachal Pradesh government will regularise the services of its contractual employees who have completed two years in March this year, a statement issued here on April 30 said. The state government has also decided to regularise services of the daily waged workers completing four years of service as of March 31, 2023.
Tamil Nadu: 'Will Withdraw Bill That Amended Factories Act To Allow 12 Hours Work' Says Chief Minister MK Stalin On May Day
He made the announcement while speaking at the May Day Park in Chennai's Chintadripet.
Delhi govt approves draft proposal on labour working conditions
New Delhi, Apr 28 (PTI) Female employees doing night shifts in the city may see some improvement in their working conditions with the Delhi government approving a draft policy to lay down some labour laws. The draft Delhi Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Rules, 2023, was vetted and approved by the labour department on Friday and will soon be up on its website for people’s suggestions.
For migrants in Delhi it’s welfare schemes, jobs and lack of nativist politics are the biggest draw
The Economic Survey of Delhi finds that migration to the city is more than double that of the natural population growth.
2 Couples in West Bengal Die by ‘Suicide’ due to Poverty, no MGNREGA Work
Kolkata: Two couples recently allegedly committed suicide in West Bengal due to extreme poverty and loss of livelihood after the Mamata Banerjee government discontinued the 100-day job scheme under MGNREGA in 2021. The Centre had frozen MGNREGA funding to the state on December 21, 2021.
Despite ban, Gujarat continues to witness deaths of manual scavengers
All incidents occurred when the workers without protective gears entered the sewer lines to clean them manually.
In the Courts
No priority for worker dues after liquidation under IBC
No priority for worker dues after liquidation under IBC " The Supreme Court on Tuesday endorsed a provision of the Companies Act, 2013, that says workers' dues will not get preferential payment in case of liquidation under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016. A bench comprising Justices MR Shah and Sanjiv Khanna dismissed a batch of petitions led by Moser Baer Karamchari Union seeking to strike down Section 327(7) of the Companies Act, 2013 as arbitrary and violative of Article 21 of the Constitution of India.
Kerala gratuity order to cause irreparable loss: HDFC
India’s largest private lender HDFC Bank Ltd has told a labour appellate authority in Kerala that a recent order to pay higher gratuity amounting to Rs 7.22 lakh to a former employee would cause “irreparable loss, harm and damages" that cannot be quantified. HDFC Bank’s appeal is against an order by Aneish Ravindra, assistant labour commissioner, Ernakulam, acting as the controlling authority under the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972
Ayurveda Practitioners Aren't Entitled to Payment on Par With Allopathy Doctors: SC
Saying that the apex court does not mean to compare the two systems, it said that allopathy doctors perform trauma and emergency care, in addition to surgeries and thus their work was not equal to indigenous medicine practitioners.
Tailpiece
Hollywood writers go on strike for better pay amid Guild, studios deadlock
Writers for some of the most popular shows on television are walking off the job, striking for higher pay amid rapid changes in the way people watch their programs and films. The Writers Guild of America, which represents more than 11,500 Hollywood scribes, said its strike is effective Tuesday morning Los Angeles time… The guild added that the studios have been “stonewalling” on issues such as the use of artificial intelligence in script production.
Working Class Lives
Maharashtra | Changing weather patterns and easy microfinance loans are pushing women farmers into a debt cycle
For a few years now, each time Sunita Uike takes a loan, she promises herself it will be the last one. Each time, the weather interferes with her plan. The number of microfinance loans in Maharashtra rose from 82.89 lakh on March 31, 2021 to 91.66 lakh on March 31, 2022.
Sindoor, bindi, AK-47—an intimate look at CRPF women’s lives in J&K, Manipur, Chhattisgarh
Shashi, 29, has been juggling between the roles of a commando and a traditional married woman effortlessly all this while. Shashi wears khaki shirts and trousers on duty, and when back at home in Agra with her family, she wears colourful, glittery sarees and covers her face with the hem, assuming the roles of a wife, daughter-in-law, and mother.
Behind Gujarat’s beautiful fabrics, the invisible lives of boiler workers
Mostly Adivasis, migrant workers who keep the factory boilers burning are compelled to work long, brutal hours and live in squalid conditions.
Talking therapy: ASHA workers offer hope in rural Madhya Pradesh
The low-cost psychosocial intervention designed by non-profit Sangath and delivered by women, has the potential to change the way mental health is approached in places where no psychiatrist or psychologist goes.
May Day 2023: How Will the Predicament of Sanitation Workers Improve?
The cleaners of sewer-septic tanks and open drains in Delhi are mostly from dalit, tribal, backward and marginalised communities. The question to consider is how to improve their social and economic condition.
History
Evolution of Trade Unions in India
Textile mills in Bombay started functioning from 1851 onwards and Jute mills in Calcutta from 1854. A network of factories started coming up- employing a large number of workers, including women and children. The social workers, philanthropists and the religious leaders were first to take interest in organising these factory workers.