This was one of the important decisions taken by the ILC's 43rd Standing Labour Committee's meeting, held recently in Delhi. The 43rd ILC session will discuss the “Problems of contract labour - social security, wages, etc and amendments to the contract labour legislation.” Since the contract labour issue was discussed at length at the 42nd ILC session as well, with the representatives of labour and employers holding divergent views, the ILC set up a task force to sort out matters. The Labour Ministry's “Action Taken Report” gives some details of the conclusions drawn by the task force.

At the 42nd ILC session, the employers group felt that “the contract labour has come to stay.” Hence, a ban on contract labour won't provide a solution. The “inevitability” of contract labour has to be recognised, the group said, adding that fresh thought had to be given to the protection of working conditions of contract labour. It suggested that the protection mechanism needed to be clearly defined in the legislation itself so as to ensure that contract labour was not exploited.

On the other hand, the workers group “unanimously” maintained that the Act should be amended to provide for: a) Absorption of contract labour in regular jobs after prohibition under Section 10(2); b) Insertion in the main Act of a provision for paying some wages and other benefits for same and similar nature of work; c) The ceiling of 20 workers should be deleted and, d) Licence should not be given for employment of contract labour in perennial nature of jobs.

The Task Force or the Tripartite Group held three meetings between June and August 2009 and is required to submit its report by December 31, 2009. It has to “suggest amendments to the Act in order to protect the interest of the workers.” Though the exact formulation of amendments to the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act 1970 will be available when the Group submits its report in December, the tone and temper of the “Action Taken Report” appears to project that the “focus of law should be from abolition to regulation of contract labour.” And, that any revision of the law should focus on assuring social security which is normally available through regularisation “entailing continuity of service, gratuity, bonus, and retirement benefits. The Tripartite Group was also of the view that maximum exploitation of the contract workers took place in the context of wages.

In this context, the Group decided to reframe Rule 25(2)(v) as follows: “In case where the contract labour perform the same or similar kind of work as the workmen directly appointed by the Principal Employer, the wage rates, holidays, hours of work and other conditions of service of contract labour should be the same as is available to the workmen on the rolls of the Principal Employer. In case, same or similar kind of work is not being performed by the workmen directly employed by the Principal Employer, it should be notified by the appropriate Government for that kind of work in respect of Contract Labour as a scheduled employment.”

It is hoped that the so-called amendments to the Contract Labour Act are available before the 43rd session of the lLC so that these can be thoroughly discussed at the apex labour tripartite body. That apart, it is clear that not only CL(R&A) but even the Industrial Disputes Act and various other labour laws have been flouted by the corporates with impunity. The labour conciliation has remained paralysed under the Privatisation, Liberalisation and Globalisation (LPG) regime.

It is not surprising that contract labour is being employed in the public sector enterprises as well as Central Administration and that they suffer like other contract workers do. The saving grace is that at least the organised labour, both in public and private sectors, has come to realise the LPG policy-makers' sinister game of pitting regular workers against contract and casual workers. The central trade union organisations (CTUOs) are unanimous that this game has to be fought. Hence the call to organised workers to stand up for the rights of contract workers also along with the fight for their own rights.

It needs to be noted that while suggesting amendments to the CL(R&A) Act, 1970, it is being emphasised that “contract labour has come to stay”. How has it come to stay? Were the concerns being shown on paper regarding wages, social security, etc of the regulated workers ever enforced in practice? The workers have been pressing for a ban on employing contract labour in jobs of perennial nature. On the contrary, employers want the right to use contract workers even in jobs of perennial nature; this gives them the right to 'hire and fire'. The LPG regime itself has been totally disregarding the law and allowing the corporates to employ contract labour wherever and whenever they like. That is how “the contract labour has come to stay.”

The nefarious game of employing contract labour has yet another side to it. Since the threat of termination always hangs over the head of contract workers, they do not find the courage to raise their voice and the law does not come to their rescue; unionisation is also beyond their reach. Permanent workers are made to lord it over contract workers. But this game of employers has a limit, too. Not far away from Delhi, this play of forces - LPG regime coupled with the force of corporates being pitted against the angry workers - can be seen in the Gurgaon industrial cluster. Between January 25 when the entire nation watched on TV the police brutally lathi-charging protesting workers and September-October 2009 when the workers of modern automobile companies rose against corporates' victimisation of workers for mere building of their union, there is a world of change in the Gurgaon contract workers' mindset.

The labour situation in the ever-increasing number of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) which are safe havens for tax concessions and tax evasions and downright labour exploitation is intolerable. CTUOs know it but have not been able to do anything. Here too awareness among CTUOs is increasing. The meeting of the CTUOs of all hues on October 30 in the INTUC office was some indication of it. The meeting congratulated the workers on their nationwide protest on October 28, 2009 against the Government's policies. It called for a “massive dharna before Parliament, State capitals and industrial centres on December 16, 2009” to urge upon the Government “to take urgent remedial/corrective measures to address the main concerns of working people effectively”. One of the five concerns is: “Strict enforcement of all basic labour laws without any exception or exemption and stringent punitive measures for violation of labour laws.”

The organised labour needs to evolve a broader strategy to deal with the curse of contract labour. (IPA Service)