Proposals to extending overtime work hours and allowing companies to have women on night duty will come into force once the 63-year-old Factories Act, 1948, is amended.An expert committee headed by Planning Commission member Narendra Jadhav is giving finishing touches to the proposals.
However, the draft is silent on measures to monitor implementation and prevent violations and abuse of the laws.
The government has also proposed separate parameters for the private and public sectors for fixing accountability when an industrial accident takes place.
While the responsibility lies with the manager of public sector companies and not the government, for the private sector, the proprietor will be held responsible if anything goes wrong.
While private players have welcomed the steps to extend overtime work hours and having women on night shifts, they have objected to the double standards on fixing accountability for industrial accidents.
Trade unions, on the other hand, feel that the 55 proposed changes in the Act with 110 Sections are aimed at easing foreign direct investments at the cost of undermining the rights and safety of workers.
The committee, which met employers and employee associations representatives for the third time last week, is expected to give its report by the month-end.
Then the labour ministry will script the final draft of the amendment Bill. The proposed changes to Section 64 and 65 of the Act, which deal with overtime working hours in factories, says the hours will be increased to 100 from the existing 50.
Jadhav has cited the work pressure in government printing units during elections, while printing Plan and budget documents to seek the proposed amendments in overtime work hours.
Section 66 of the Act, which prohibits night duty for women beyond 10 pm, is proposed to be changed, to allow women to work overnight till 6 am.
However, it says the company will have to take their consent before assigning night duties and to provide transportation.
Trade unions say it is practically impossible to provide every woman worker with transportation and hence it would violate and compromise the safety of women workers.
The proposals also seek to shift the blame for industrial accidents from the proprietor to the manager of a factory provided it is government-owned, by changing the definition of "occupier" of the factory in Section 2 (n) from the "person who has ultimate control over affairs of a factory" to the "person appointed to manage the factory".
For instance: In the case of the industrial accident of Union Carbide the proprietor was as much guilty as the managers.
If the changed definition were to be extended to private sector, then the owner would no longer be held responsible for accidents.
Assocham has accused the government of double standards on the matter of fixing accountability in accidents.
"In the public sector they want their CMDs to be safe while in the private sector they will crucify Ratan Tata if there was a fire in a factory in some far-off place," said M K Garg chief advisor, Assocham.
The expert committee was set up early this year to consider amendments to the Factories Act.
The committee was mandated to examine the proposed amendments with particular reference to concerns arising out of disasters like the Bhopal Gas tragedy, the role and accountability of public servants - like inspectors of factories and other stake holders - and the general enforcement of the Act.
All India Trade Union Congress deputy general secretary H Mahadevan said these were old proposals which were being expedited by the ministry under pressure from the Prime Minister's Office and Planning Commission.
Mahadevan said though overtime was voluntary, not working overtime was considered misconduct in many companies.
He said many SEZ units do not comply with the provisions of the Act and they were officially or unofficially exempted from inspections.
As for allowing women to work at night, he said the provisions for protection in actual practice are never implemented and it was practically not possible to provide security to all woman workers who have night shifts.
Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh general secretary Baij Naith Rai said the proposals were anti-worker and since the final meeting was over, it was up to the Government to incorporate the changes that the trade unions had asked for.
