Government may enact executive orders for maternity & wage Bills

Having failed to pass pro-worker Bills in the current session of Parliament amid Opposition’s continuous protests over note ban, labour minister Bandaru Dattatreya on Thursday lashed out at Congress and the Left parties and indicated that the government might promulgate executive orders for the Maternity Bill and the Payment of Wages Bill.

“The Opposition, particularly Congress and Left parties, do not want Parliament to function. Whatever we do, they oppose, at every stage. They want the government to do nothing. People have voted us to power. They have not learnt any lesson,” he told FE.

The labour ministry had initially listed three bills — Factories (Amendment) Bill, 2016, Employees’ Compensation (Amendment Bill), 2016, and the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill — for consideration and passage in the current winter session.

These Bills were already cleared by either of the Houses, but pending clearance from the other. Again, given the urgency of transferring payment of wages for the workers through the electronic means only, the minister on Thursday introduced the Payment of Wages (Amendment) Bill in the Lok Sabha.

“I have introduced the payment of wages Bill and have written to the Lok Sabha Speaker for consideration and passage of the Bill in the current session only. I have also written regarding the maternity Bill. It was listed everyday,” Dattatreya said.
The passage of the Maternity Bill would have made it mandatory for establishments employing 10 or more persons to grant 26 weeks of paid maternity leave as against 23 at present. It would have benefited 1.8 million women working in the organised sector.

The Factories Bill, which was introduced in the Lok Sabha in 2014, proposes to increase the overtime limit for factory workers from 50 hours now to 100 hours in a quarter and to 125 hours. The Bill also proposes to set up a regulator with punitive powers to ensure safety, health and welfare of workers in factories employing 40 or more people. The Employees’ Compensation (Amendment) Bill seeks to modify the extant Act to rationalise the penalties and strengthen the rights of the workers in the organised sector.

On whether executive orders would be issued, he said, “There is nothing like if these were passed in Parliament. All workers would have known. States would have also been convinced. These become difficult through executive orders, but we will consider this as an option.”