LABOUR CODE ON WAGES

December 30, 2015
Wages Code
This refers to the report “Inter-ministerial Committee to Finalise Wage Code, Small Factory Bill Today” (Economic Times, December 30). It is heartening to find that at least outside the ‘house’ legislators are doing serious legislative business. A stage has come when reforms cannot wait for normalcy to return in legislatures.
As the labour code on wages will be subsuming Minimum Wages Act, 1948, Payment of Wages Act, 1936, Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 and Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 the new legislation will have far-reaching implications on the wage and remuneration structure across public and private sectors. Both central and state government will have a role in effective enforcement of the provisions of the legislation. This points to the need for meaningful consultation among all stakeholders at the drafting stage of the law.
One expects that the new Wages Code will factor in the adequacy of wages and compensations from the social security angle and ensure that workers’ compensation/remuneration packages will have a component to take care of social security needs post-job. The absence of this approach in the past has resulted in analysts and researchers alleging that pensioners are parasites on working population.
M G WARRIER, Mumbai

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