PM meets union leaders, assures implementation of labour laws

New Delhi, Aug 19 (UNI) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today assured central trade unions that he would write to all Chief Ministers to ensure effective implementation of labour laws and agreed to set up an Index Review Committee to address anomalies in wages and prices.

In a meeting with trade union representatives at his residence tonight, he said the Government would also set up a Working Group to look into specific problems of implementation of labour laws.

Dr Singh said the government would release Rs 350 crore to pay pending wages to workers of public sector undertaking before the Pooja festival and added that the Union Cabinet would look into the demand for raising the ceiling on bonus.

Briefing reporters, the Prime Minister's media adviser Sanjaya Baru said the trade unions expressed concern at the meeting over violation of labour laws, rising contract labour and increase in working hours beyond eight hours a day.

The trade union leaders also raised the issue of the Consumer Price Index not representing the price rise and the delay in introducing the Agricultural Workers' Bill and the Unorganised Workers' Bill.

The labour leaders also criticised the functioning of the Union Labour Ministry, Dr Baru said adding they also wanted the government to bring in Parliament a Bill to ensure employees' participation at management level.

''We will consider setting up a Working Group consisting of all stakeholders to suggest concrete ways of moving forward on all these issues in a short time frame,'' the Prime Minister said in his closing remarks.

According to Dr Baru, the leaders of the central trade unions welcomed the dialogue with the Prime Minister and the concerns raised by the various unions with different political affiliations were ''more or less similar''.

Dr Baru, however, refused to say whether labour reforms, the controversial 'hire and fire' proposal or flexible labour laws were discussed.

He, however, said the trade union leaders favoured economic policies for attracting more investment if these suited the interests of the workers.

Dr Singh said his Government was committed to the welfare of the working class and claimed that it had reversed the previous trend of speedy closure and disinvestment of PSUs.

Ever since the UPA came to power, it had been working hard to build a society based on the principles of equity, welfare and social justice, he said, citing the common minimum programme and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.

The meeting was attended by CITU President M K Pandhe, AITUC General Secretary Gurudas Dasgupta, INTUC President G Sanjeeva Reddy, BMS President U Purohit, United Trade Union Congress President Abani Roy among others.

Labour and Employment Minister K Chandrashekhara Rao, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, and senior officials including the Cabinet Secretary attended the more than two-hour-long meeting.

Today's meeting was the third between Dr Singh and labour leaders, the first coming a few months after he assumed office and the second at the National Labour Conference.

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