The State government notification on changing the Karnataka Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Rules, 1961 to introduce the concept of “fixed-term workmen” seems to have taken the labour movement by surprise. For the unions that have been opposed to the dilution of major labour laws, fixed-term workmen could threaten the power of collective bargaining itself.
In a notification issued on June 30, the Labour Department introduced changes to the model standing orders to enable changes to Karnataka Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Rules, 1961 that govern the condition of service of labour in various industries and establishments.
While the new rules provide flexibility to industries to hire and terminate employees, among the important developments expected following the changes is the hiring of fixed-term workmen for “core jobs” in skilled and semi-skilled industries. For now, only permanent employees could be hired for such jobs. Under the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, contract employees can only be hired for allied jobs, not core jobs.
“The changes will help industries hire people when a necessity arises and terminate [their services] when the necessity ceases to exist. It is a flexi-labour policy under which industries can hire additional labour when there is extra work, and will help labourers with higher salaries since they have to be paid on a par with permanent workers. Currently, industries have to get government nod for retrenchment or closure,” said B.C. Prabhakar, president of Karnataka Employers’ Association. “Wages under the new category will be higher than that of contract workers and they will be eligible for gratuity. This will stop exploitation.”
Though the fixed-term workman concept was introduced by the Vajpayee government before being voted out in 2004, the succeeding UPA government under Manmohan Singh had scrapped it. In 2018, the Union government brought about changes to the Model Standing Orders, following which Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, and Haryana adopted the changes, Mr. Prabhakar said, adding that Gujarat has had fixed-term workmen since 2001.
However, the All-India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) has argued that though the wages for fixed-term workmen could go up in the short term, the sums would be depressed as the workmen lose collective bargaining power in the long term. “Being on a fixed term, the worker will not be part of an organised collective. Over a period of time, when the number of organised permanent workers declines, the salaries of fixed-term workmen will also get depressed, as they will be connected to that of permanent workers with bargaining power,” said M.D. Harigovinda, AITUC general secretary, Bengaluru.
“This is a unilateral decision taken by the government using the pandemic situation. We have not been consulted or even informed about the change that is aimed at de-unionisation,” another union leader said, adding that the unions were considering legal recourse against the notification.
