November 21, 2020. Indian Federation of Working Journalists ( IFWJ) has suggested to the government of India to make amendments in the GSR of the Industrial Code of 2020 particularly with regard to the constitution of the Works Committees and appointments of presiding officers for the Industrial Tribunals as contemplated in the Code. These suggestions have been made in view of the prevailing and the future media situation in the country.
The Ministry of Labour of labour and Employment had on 29th October invited the objections and suggestions on the Industrial Code, which is second of the four codes passed by the Parliament of India. Suggestions for the Code on Wages have already been submitted by the trade unions including the IFWJ. The Industrial Code subsumes four existing labour laws viz. (i) The Industrial Tribunal (Procedure) Rules, 1949, (ii) The Industrial tribunal ( Central Procedure) Rules,1954, (iii)The Industrial disputes Rules,1957 and (iv) The Industrial Employment ( Standing Orders) Rules, 1946.
In a letter sent to the Ministry, the IFWJ Secretary General Parmanand Pandey has asked that the provision of the individual contract between employee and the employer should also be introduced, although it has resulted in the non-unionisation of the media employees yet it has become necessary in the present circumstances. Similarly, the individual employees should not be left in the lurch while the Works Committees are to be constituted.
The IFWJ has also asked the government to ensure that the notice of the change by the management should not be effectuated till the majority of the workers do not approve it and the due permission is not obtained from the appropriate government. The most important of it all is that the Industrial Tribunals should be headed only by the sitting judges and the officials, who must be asked to adjudicate the disputes in the fixed time frame. The workers have a very bad experience of the present state of the Industrial Tribunals, which are the sanctuaries of the retired judges, who endlessly prolong the disputes, with no justice insight for the workers.
