The Hindu Business Line : `Contract labour' being misunderstood: FAPCCI

"In fact, it is a system where labour is employed by a contractor to execute certain work in industrial establishments," Mr S.S.R. Koteswara Rao, President of Andhra Pradesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FAPCCI), said here.

Industrial establishments employ contract labour mainly for temporary work or seasonal work or on non-productive and non-core activities like sweeping, cleaning, house-keeping, garden maintenance, he added.

Addressing a daylong seminar on `Contract labour system and the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) (AP Amendment) Act, 2003', Mr Rao said the amendment made in August would help the industry to structure manpower needs for temporary and non-core activities. Also, it provided some employment opportunities for the needy.

"This liberalisation would help the industries to meet the global competition in industrial production," he said.

After the enactment of Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970, the Government, instead of limiting itself to ensuring the due benefits to the contract labour, had begun to force the absorption of such labour into regular service without assessing the ability of industries concerned to absorb the resultant financial burden.

"This has resulted in many industrial establishments becoming unviable and shying away from employing contract labour even for non-core activity. This, in turn, has scuttled employment opportunities in for the unskilled," he said.

Mr O.F. Reddy, Deputy Secretary of FAPCCI, said the amendment would not only increase employment potentiality but also help the industry cut down their costs and "social overheads on non-core and unproductive areas".

Delivering the keynote address, Mr Priyadarshi Dash, Principal Secretary (Labour and Employment, Govt of AP), said the objective in amending the Act was not to curtail the rights of the employees but to rationalise them.

He said the Governments moved in to liberalise the labour laws, keeping in view the LPG (liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation). "The aim is to speed up the industrial productivity so as to make the industry competitive globally," he said.

In his inaugural, Mr Justice P.S. Narayana, Judge of Andhra Pradesh High Court, gave an overview of the Act.

More Stories on : Labour Reforms | Andhra Pradesh | Industry Associations

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