The Congress government in Rajasthan has announced creation of an online labour employment exchange for migrant workers returning to the State amid unrest among the trade unions which have demanded payment of wages for March and April to all workers employed in the factories and industrial units.
The trade unions will also join a nationwide strike on the issue of labour rights on May 22.
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said here on Tuesday that the employment exchange would help the labourers, facing crisis in the COVID-19 lockdown Mr. Gehlot gave instructions for online mapping of labourers and construction workers coming in and going out of the State.
The Labour Department will impart training to the workers, who have returned to their native villages, according to their qualifications and requirements of industries, Mr. Gehlot said.
Mr. Gehlot also hinted at reforms in the labour laws, while affirming that the nationwide lockdown had changed the entire industrial scenario and rendered the gainful employment of workers as the biggest challenge. “Changes and reforms in labour laws are the need of the hour to address the new situation,” he said.
However, the trade unions here said that the employment exchange would not provide an immediate relief to the migrant workers, who needed wages for the period of lockdown and food and shelter homes. The labour organisations expressed surprise that the government was encouraging workers from other States to go back to their homes when industrial units were restarting their operations.
“Mr. Gehlot will be toeing the BJP's line if he pushes for reforms in labour laws to please the industrialists,” Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) State president Ravindra Shukla told The Hindu, while referring to the suspension of labour laws by BJP-ruled States such as Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Mr. Shukla said the trade unions would launch a major agitation if such a step was taken in Rajasthan.
Mr. Shukla said the workers' disputes with management over non-payment of salaries had been reported from several places, such as Bhawani Mandi, Bhilwara and Kankroli, during the last few days. Several workers were injured when the police arrested 123 labourers and resorted to lathicharge on those demanding wages in Maharaja Shree Umaid Mills in Pali recently.
Labour leader Ramanth Singh later died in the police custody. The trade unions have demanded a judicial inquiry into Mr. Singh's death, while pointing out that the owners of Umaid Mills had violated the lockdown's guidelines by not paying salaries to workers and the police were responsible for the leader's death in their custody.
The trade union bodies which have raised the issue include the State units of CITU, Indian National Trade Union Congress, All India Trade Union Congress, Hind Mazdoor Sabha and All India Centre of Trade Unions. They have sent a joint memorandum to Mr. Ashok Gehlot, who also holds the Home portfolio, seeking his intervention in the matter. (
