Drastic changes in new labour laws
The draft document on labour law reforms have become a bone of contention as the Labour Minister is bestowed with sweeping powers to abolish 13 pieces of legislation in addition to other drastic changes, trade union officials said.
According to the draft law reforms it is learnt that a number of laws like the Industrial Dispute Act, the Termination Act, the Shop and Office Act, the Employment of Women and Children Act are to be abolished. The Business Times has obtained a copy of the draft labour law reforms submitted.
It was pointed out that in this respect there will be no limit on the night work and the previous number of hours of 10 per day has been increased to 15 days per month and the overtime of 60 hours will be increased to 80 hours under the proposed laws.
Moreover, trade unionists point out that overtime that was previously carried out voluntarily will in future be a compulsory requirement.
In fact, it was pointed out that the working hours have been stipulated as 12 hours per day with one hour interval without overtime and four working days per week.
Factories employing workers on a shift basis can do so for 16 hours with a one hour lunch interval per day.
In addition, the authorities are also attempting to control the trade unions by ensuring that a union should have a membership of at least 100 in order to be recognised.
Trade unions must also inform in advance of any impending trade union action that will be initiated and this decision can be arrived at only through a secret ballot. Under existing laws trade union action does not require prior notice of approval as it is considered a tool of collective bargaining in line with international principles.
It was highlighted that manpower agencies will under the new laws gain legal status thereby encouraging contract labour.
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