The Trade Unions (Amendment) Bill, 2019 – January 10, 2019

The Trade Unions (Amendment) Bill, 2019 was introduced in Lok Sabha by the Minister of Labour and Employment, on January 8, 2019. Which provides for the registration and regulation of trade unions. Introducing the Trade Unions (Amendment) Bill 2019, Union Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar said that so far there was no legal framework on representation of trade unions in policymaking and the proposed legislation will address the issue. The present Act provides for only registration of trade unions and there is no provision for recognition.
The Bill seeks to provide for recognition of trade unions or a federation of trade unions at the central and state level by the central and state government, respectively. Such trade unions or the federation of trade unions will be recognised as Central Trade Unions or State Trade Unions, as the case may be.
The central or state government may make rules for:
the recognition of such Central or State Trade Unions, and
the authority to decide disputes arising out of such recognition, and the manner of deciding such disputes.
THE TRADE UNIONS (AMENDMENT) BILL, 2019
A BILL further to amend the Trade Unions Act, 1926. BE it enacted by Parliament in the Sixty-ninth Year of the Republic of India as follows:—
1. (1) This Act may be called the Trade Unions (Amendment) Act, 2019.
(2) It shall come into force on such date as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint.
Insertion of new section 10A.
2. In the Trade Unions Act, 1926 (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act), after section 10, the following section shall be inserted, namely:––

“10A. (1) Where the Central Government is of the opinion that it is necessary or expedient to recognize a Trade Union or a federation of Trade Unions as Central Trade Union at the Central level, it may recognize such Trade Union or a federation of Trade Unions as the Central Trade Union in such manner and for such purposes as may be prescribed and if any dispute arises in relation to such recognition, it shall be decided by such authority in such manner as may be prescribed by the Central Government.
(2) Where the State Government is of the opinion that it is necessary or expedient to recognize a Trade Union or a federation of Trade Unions as the State Trade Union at the State level, it may recognize such Trade Union or a federation of Trade Unions as the State Trade Union in such manner and for such purposes as may be prescribed and if any dispute arises in relation to such recognition, it shall be decided by such authority in such manner as may be prescribed by the State Government.”.

Amendment of section 29.
3. In section 29 of the principal Act, in sub-section (2), after clause (b), the following clause shall be inserted, namely:— “(ba) the manner and purposes for recognition of Trade Union or federation of Trade Unions as Central Trade Union or, as the case may be, State Trade Union and the authority to decide disputes arising out of such recognition including the manner of deciding such disputes;”.

STATEMENT OF OBJECTS AND REASONS
The Trade Unions Act, 1926 (the said Act) has been enacted to provide for registration of Trade Unions and in certain respects to define the law relating to registered Trade Unions. 2. Being a pre-independence legislation, the said Act provides only for registration of Trade Unions. There is no provision for recognition of Trade Unions in the Act. However, presently recognition of Trade Union is governed by instructions and guidelines in the Code of Discipline evolved in 1958 as voluntarily accepted by employers and employees. 3. Since there are demands from various quarters for providing statutory force to the recognition of Trade Unions so that their role will become more important in maintaining harmonious industrial relations in the country, the Government proposes to amend the said Act to make provisions for recognition of Trade Unions or federation of Trade Unions at Central and State level. It is also proposed to empower the appropriate Government to make regulations to facilitate the manner and purposes of such recognition. 4. The Bill seeks to achieve the above objectives.
NEW DELHI;
SANTOSH KUMAR GANGWAR
The 3rd January, 2019.
MEMORANDUM REGARDING DELEGATED LEGISLATION
Clause 3 of the Bill seeks to insert clause (ba) in sub-section (2) of section 29 of the Trade Unions Act, 1926 so as to empower the appropriate Government to make regulations to provide the manner and purposes for recognition of Trade Unions or federation of Trade Unions as Central Trade Union or, as the case may be, State Trade Union and the authority to decide disputes arising out of such recognition including the manner of deciding such disputes. 2. The matters in respect of which rules may be made by the appropriate Government are matters of procedure and administrative details and it is not practicable to provide for them in the Bill itself. The delegation of legislative power is, therefore, of a normal character.
Cabinet approves amendment to Trade Unions Act, 1926

The Cabinet has approved amendment to the Trade Unions Act, 1926 to make provisions regarding recognition of trade unions. The approval will facilitate recognition of Trade Unions at Central and State level. Briefing reporters in New Delhi yesterday, Minister of State for Labour and Employment Santosh Kumar Gangwar said, the proposed bill will ensure that the nomination of workers’ representatives in tripartite bodies by the government will become more transparent.

How Online Skill Training Startups Shifting Focus From A University-Based Curriculum To A More Industry-Oriented Training Approach

A college education may be seen as necessary today, but it is becoming increasingly less relevant for professional success. One of the primary reasons for this is the rising popularity of online skill development platforms and their effectiveness in teaching new skills. Consider what made an engineering degree highly prized over the last three decades? The initial growth of the IT Industry in India created a huge need for analytically bent and skilled employees for which trained engineering graduates looked to be the best bet. Since IT companies were eagerly hiring these engineers, many more people chose to study engineering due to the guarantee of a job. The IT boom in India across the 1990s and 2000s ensured that more high school students chose engineering as their preferred undergraduate studies with a guaranteed job in the IT sector irrespective of the engineering stream they pursued. However, over the last few years, these companies have realized that they had to train graduates they had recruited. The need for additional training after recruitment is a massive added cost for the company. Simultaneously, students who completed college also realized that they had learned little during their undergraduate / graduate studies. In short, an increasing number of students and employers realized that the degrees that had been awarded were not as useful as they ought to have been and a much needed change is on the horizon

A spike in inter-state migration in India could be driving a new wave of nativist politics

Employers to pay for staffers breaking rule

Beginning New Year, those caught flouting traffic rules may not only get a earful from their employers, but the latter may also end up paying the penalty. To ensure discipline driving in the city, the police will start writing to the employers of the traffic offenders informing them about the traffic rules their employees have broken. “Once the commuter is caught flouting any traffic rule, he or she will be penalized and their employer’s name and address will also be noted. The traffic department will then send a letter to the employers and inform them about their traffic offence. The employers will be asked to ensure that their staffers follow traffic rules,” said Amita Vanani, assistant commissioner of police (traffic). “We will also seek explanation from the employer. If the offender again flouts traffic rules, we will fine the employer up to Rs 500 for every traffic offence of their employee. A maximum of Rs 25,000 can be collected as penalty from the employer. This will ensure that the employers insist their employees on following all traffic rules. The idea is to instil a sense of disciplined driving among the citizens,” Vanani told TOI

Role of corporate training in the retail sector

India is the 5th largest destination in retail space and is expected to grow at US $950 billion by 2018. This sector has witnessed a rapid growth in implementation of employee training programmes as front-line associates have a major and immediate influence over consumers’ buying decisions. For example, in a shopping complex, the sales staff is the biggest stimulus for the customer’s purchase decisions, hence their communication skills, soft skills, knowledge about the product etc. are an important concern. It becomes crucial to pay close attention to the way retail workforce interacts with customers and closes the sales transactions. Training ensures that the workforce structure of an organization remains strong. Training requires a substantial percentage of expenditure by company which seems like a huge expense at start but is proved to be profitable in the long run. Employees who are well informed and have access to training materials, as and when they require, are typically happier. Retail is well known for its high turnover rates and one of the benefits of training in the sector is that it can help increase employee retention rate by giving them the knowledge and skills they need to fulfill their job responsibilities

Hotter weather threatens productivity of Indian workers, says study; temperature rise also increases absenteeism
For every 1 degree Celsius increase in temperature above 27 degree Celsius on a hot day in India, productivity of workers declines by as much as 4 percent, according to a new study.  Annual average temperature in India has increased 2 degree Celsius over 200 years to 2006, and is predicted to rise further by 1.5-2.0 degree Celsius by 2030. Simply put, this means if a worker is packing 100 boxes of shoes in a day at 27 degree Celsius, he/she will pack only 96 boxes on a day when temperature is 28 degree Celsius. Small industries such as cloth-weaving units, which cannot afford air-conditioning, are most vulnerable to production losses due to rise in temperature, as per the 30 August, 2018, study prepared by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC), a think-tank. Workers of “hotter regions” such as Delhi and Gujarat – together contributing about 10 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (on prices of 2014-15) – are likely to see a 4 percent decline in the productivity on a hot day against a 2 percent decline in the efficiency of the workers in “milder climate” of South and Central India, according to the study. Researchers looked at both labour-intensive and highly automated manufacturing processes. In the first category, they found that the productivity of workers engaged in cloth weaving or garment manufacturing dropped by as much as 4 percent per degree as temperatures rose above 27 degree Celsius, as per the study

Hotter weather threatens productivity of Indian workers, says study; temperature rise also increases absenteeism
For every 1 degree Celsius increase in temperature above 27 degree Celsius on a hot day in India, productivity of workers declines by as much as 4 percent, according to a new study.  Annual average temperature in India has increased 2 degree Celsius over 200 years to 2006, and is predicted to rise further by 1.5-2.0 degree Celsius by 2030. Simply put, this means if a worker is packing 100 boxes of shoes in a day at 27 degree Celsius, he/she will pack only 96 boxes on a day when temperature is 28 degree Celsius. Small industries such as cloth-weaving units, which cannot afford air-conditioning, are most vulnerable to production losses due to rise in temperature, as per the 30 August, 2018, study prepared by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC), a think-tank. Workers of “hotter regions” such as Delhi and Gujarat – together contributing about 10 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (on prices of 2014-15) – are likely to see a 4 percent decline in the productivity on a hot day against a 2 percent decline in the efficiency of the workers in “milder climate” of South and Central India, according to the study. Researchers looked at both labour-intensive and highly automated manufacturing processes. In the first category, they found that the productivity of workers engaged in cloth weaving or garment manufacturing dropped by as much as 4 percent per degree as temperatures rose above 27 degree Celsius, as per the study