In the months immediately following the 2024 tragedy, reporting on the landslide per se had been a straightforward affair. On one side was death and destruction. On the other side, survivors and the business of survival. It was black and white. What direction to take was clear. Rehabilitation in comparison, felt like a complex situation. One that is fraught with shades of grey. As grey as human life, explains Shyam G Menon.
Samsung India is willing to sign a long-term wage settlement and negotiate directly with its workers for an amicable resolution of the dispute, the company's lawyer said on Friday, terming the ongoing employees' strike at the Sriperumbudur plant "illegal". Lawyer Anand Gopalan, who is representing Samsung India in the high court of Chennai and the Kanchipuram District Court, said the company would only negotiate with its workers and not with any third-party leaders.
According to CITU, around 90% of the 1,723 workers of the Sriperumbudur plant are participating in the strike. Samsung said it is ready to talk to employees and not a third party like CITU.
We no longer have the ambition to rival China save through words. We are happy to be fighting ourselves and digging up disputes from centuries ago as a substitute for real development, argues Aakar Patel.
The move will help industries in pushing authorities for exemption under various labour laws at a micro-level, along with demanding changes to bring greater flexibility in their operations related to retrenchment, safety standards, and collective bargaining.
Paving the way for the first set of labour reforms in the country, President Pranab Mukherjee has given his assent to Rajasthan's amendments to three laws.
The New York Times said in a report on Wednesday that in the lawsuit filed in New Jersey federal court and amended last month, BAPS has been accused 'of luring labourers from India to work on temples near Atlanta, Chicago, Houston and Los Angeles, as well as in Robbinsville, New Jersey, paying them just $450 a month'.
Although the company has shown willingness to talk to its workers and accept their key demands, it is CITU that is causing a roadblock to a solution.
'All professional players have been affected by these illegal rules (in force since 2001!) and can therefore now seek compensation for their losses.'
With Donald Trump all set to become US president, Indian exporters may face high customs duties for goods like automobiles, textiles and pharmaceuticals if the new US administration decides to pursue the 'America First' agenda, opined trade experts. Experts also said that Trump could also tighten H-1B visa rules, impacting costs and growth for Indian IT firms. Over 80 per cent of India's IT export earnings come from the US, making it vulnerable to changes in visa policies.
Unlike the other Bharatiya Janata Party-led governments, Assam has not proposed doing away with most labour laws for a certain number of years. Instead it has proposed introducing fixed-term employment to help both workers and industries, and seeks to take more firms out of the ambit of laws governing factories and contract workers.
Industry body CII on Thursday made a case for pushing reforms in sectors like land, labour, and agriculture by the Modi 3.0 government to accelerate economic growth, which is estimated to be around 8 per cent in the current financial year. CII president Sanjiv Puri said a lot of policy interventions in the past have put the economy on "a much stronger wicket". "The growth rate is poised to touch 8 per cent during the current year, marking the fourth consecutive year of above 7 per cent + growth.
Ten central trade unions on Friday gave a call for a nationwide strike on May 22 to protest against the suspension of labour laws by some states during the lockdown period, and also decided to take the matter to International Labour Organization (ILO). "The joint platform of Central Trade Unions (CTUs) in their meeting held on May 14 , 2020 took note of the critical situation for the working people in the country during the lockdown period and decided to enhance united actions to meet the challenge," a joint statement by 10 CTUs said.
Air India Express on Thursday cancelled 85 flights or around 23 per cent of the total daily capacity as the disruptions due to the cabin crew shortage continue and said Air India will operate services on 20 of its routes to minimise inconvenience to passengers.
Exasperated by frequent labour strikes, the Tamil Nadu government has decided to give public utility status to Auto components makers. A move that has left labour unions fuming since, now, they won't be able to go on strike without issuing a notice of six weeks in advance.
A group of Indian workers in the US have filed a lawsuit in a district court against the Swaminarayan sect BAPS, accusing it of human trafficking and wage law violations during the construction of a massive temple in New Jersey.
As the Centre faces multiple hurdles, BJP-governed states such as Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat have swiftly moved in to usher in radical reforms as they aim to take a larger share of the FDI pie.
Units employing up to 49 workers are not required to list themselves with the government.
On the eve of the Modi government's two years in office, the RSS-linked Bharatiya Mazdoor Sabha leadership met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. After the meeting, the BMS claimed the FM told its delegation 'the government has realised that labour reforms are not essential for industrial growth in the country.'
Making a case for India to relax labour laws, World Bank has said such a move can generate more than eight lakh regular jobs in the manufacturing sector.
Both parties will discuss the issues and there will be a meeting again on May 28, he said.
Corbyn won 61.8 per cent of the total vote, an even larger margin of victory than last year.
Prez assent to Gujarat labour law with contentious provisions.
With the reality of coalition politics staring the BJP in its face, this was inevitable, points out Ramesh Menon.
The West Bengal government is mulling amendment of labour laws to prevent strikes on "trivial issues", while also checking unfair labour practices.
Governments find themselves expanding the entitlements of the least productive - farmers and bureaucrats - and abridging those of the more productive parts of the workforce.
After a six-week tussle, the strike at General Motors India's Halol factory, 35 km from Vadodara, has finally been called off, with the workers and management reaching an understanding.
President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday gave his assent to Rajasthan's amendment to three laws -- the Factories Act, Industrial Dispute Act and Contract Labour Act.
Labour law changes for three years may not be enough as it takes a couple of years for factories to build and operations at a proper scale start only in the third or fourth year.
Reports (not denied by India) that the USA had 'for the first time provided real-time details to their Indian counterparts on the Chinese positions and force strength in advance of a PLA incursion' into Tawang at the LAC in December 2022, helping India thwart China's expansionist designs, show how operationally effective the USA-India friendship has become on the ground. A engaging excerpt from Sreeram Chaulia's must-read new book, Friends: India's Closest Strategic Partners.
The Economic Survey says that the number of strikes and lockouts have dropped to 456 in 2005 from 771 in 2000.
If freedom of speech is allowed beyond limits, it could lead to disastrous consequences, the Bombay HC has said.
The past few weeks have seen several hundred people let go of by IT services firms joining unions claiming to represent tech workers fighting for their rights.
According to new proposal for amendements in the labour law, a worker will be allowed to object to being laid off within three years, against no clear period specified in the law now.
Six decades and more later, we are now captives of our identities. Every poll is based on elaborate calculations of electability of candidates on the basis of their castes and other narrow definers. That, along with voter promiscuity, is what defines our political culture, which remains stubbornly resistant to any change, asserts Shreekant Sambrani.
The Bill will make it tougher for workers to go on strike.
With labour disputes involving demands for higher wages increasing across China, a top trade union official has demanded democratic election of union leaders to ensure their better functioning at grassroot level.
