KUMARHATTI: “The contract labour in state industries was going on unabated. The state government decision to make it compulsory for units to prepare identity cards of workers was mere an eye wash.†This was stated by Mr. Daljeet Singh, Vice President of HP CITU while taking to this correspondent here today. Thousands of labourers were employed as daily wagers in various units with no record of employment. The labourers were being forced to work as per employers’ wishes with nobody caring for labour norms, he said.
Mr. Singh said that the new units set up in state after the announcement of industrial package were primary accused of making mockery of labour laws meant to check the exploitation of workers. This has, in fact annulled the positive impact of industrial growth in state, he remarked. The section 10 of the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act 1970, prohibits the employment of labour through contact in manufacturing units. However in actual, law implementation was not being done practically. It was the employers – law makers’ nexus eroding workers welfare to large extent, alleged Mr. Singh.
He said that the Labour Department was acting like a mute spectator and entrepreneurs were making maximum benefit of it. Moreover the wages of hired workers were quite low as compared to the applicable minimum wages. The workers were fired at employers’ will. Ironically the workers routed through contractors were unaware of their actual employers.’
Mr. Singh said, the modus operandi to hire contract labour was very simple. First the private contractor allegedly in connivance of employers manages to get licence to hire workers for loading-unloading and house keeping work but later the labour hired for this work is used on machines and other directly related work. The Labour Department seemed to be buckled under political pressure, he asserted.
