By
Raman Swamy
It
was one of those surreal moments in Parliament.
Outside more than two crore workers of the country were on an all-India
strike. Inside the Lok Sabha, a bizarre
Bill to amend the Trade Unions Act was being discussed to determine the
criteria for recognition of a trade union.
The
irony was highlighted by the fact that the government seemed determined to push
through the TU amendment on the very last day of the winter session and that
too just 100 days before its term would end and fresh elections are due.
The
Opposition parties on their part were pressing for the matter to be deferred
till after a Standing Committee could go through the fine print of the Bill and
evaluate the implications of the new norms for granting recognition to a trade
union – which would have wider implications in the context of the rights of
workers in the age of privatization and globalization.
Even
though the House had many other crucial items on the agenda of the last day –
including the potentially historic constitutional amendment providing for 10
percent Reservations for economically weaker sections of upper castes. The
controversial Citizenship Amendment Bill, as well as a new and little
understood Bill to protect the privacy of citizens in regard to DNA samples for
criminal investigations – the Lok Sabha all too quickly gave consent to the
Trade Unions (Amendment) Bill, 2019, thanks to the overwhelming numbers in
favour of the Treasury.
The
brief debate did however enable parties across the aisle to articulate their
views and flag certain relevant areas of concern. Independent member N. K. Premachandran was
among those who put forward compelling arguments to oppose the introduction of
the Bill. In his opinion the Bill was
being presented on a day when the entire workforce in the country was on a
two-day strike for the sake of optics.
The
sole purpose of the amendment to the Trade Unions Act is to determine a
criteria for recognition of a trade union – at present trade unions are
registered but there is no provision for recognition. So the Government wants
to give a statutory status for recognition of a trade union in a particular
establishment.
He
asked Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar the criteria and norms by which a trade
union can be recognized – is it 10 per cent or 15 per cent or 20 per cent of
the workforce? Nothing is mentioned in the Bill. According to him it was a “delegated
legislation”, meaning Parliament is empowering the Government to make procedure
and rules by which the criteria and norms can be fixed for the recognition of a
trade union.
In
other words, the Government is being empowered to make the call and in the
process the entire legislative wisdom and the legislative power of Parliament
is being entrusted with the Government.
Parliament should know the specific criteria or norms by which a trade
union in a particular establishment can be recognized, but the Bill does not
spell it out.
Another
member, Dr. A. Sampath pointed to the mysterious haste in which the Bill was
being brought. He said on this cold morning of 8th January, quite surprisingly
we got a copy of the Trade Unions (Amendment) Bill, 2019, Bill No. 2 of 2019 in
the brown packet, which was circulated to us by the Lok Sabha Secretariat. Before 8:30 a.m. of today no such information
or nothing was seen in the Business of the House.
The
Bill itself he said was unconstitutional – because it is against the spirit of
Article 19(1)(c) of the Constitution as well as Article 23 and Article 24. The provisions of Article 43 and Article
43(a) of the Constitution have also been violated, according to him. “The Minister may say that this is only a
very simple Bill but this is going to cut the throats of the working class of
this nation”.
He
said the Modi government was in a hurry to introduce the Bill on the last day
of Winter Session when 200 million working class of this nation is already on
the streets. They are fighting against anti-people policy of this Government.
M.
B. Rajesh of the CPI(M) agreed and called it a “big betrayal by the government
on a day when the entire working class of our country, cutting across party
affiliations, cutting across political lines, is on a general strike”.
He
listed four grounds on which he objected to the Bill. Firstly, it has not incorporated the
unanimously agreed formulation between Central Trade Unions and the Ministry of
Labour and Employment regarding the definition of a Central Trade Union. With
the non-incorporation of this unanimously agreed formulation, the Central
Government is usurping wide discretionary powers regarding the definition of a
Central Trade Union.
Secondly,
in total departure from the mutually agreed procedure being followed from the
very beginning, the Government is usurping wide discretionary powers in the
matter of recognition of Central Trade Union. So, both in terms of definition
and in terms of recognition, the Government is usurping discretionary powers.
Thirdly,
this Bill has not addressed the issue of mandatory recognition of trade unions
by the employers at the enterprise level. At the enterprise level, employers
are not mandated to recognise a trade union.
Fourthly,
this is part of this Government’s labour law reforms which is taking away the
right of working class for collective bargaining, the right of working class to
form trade unions. It is against the fundamental rights and that is why all the
Central Trade Unions are against it.
Shashi
Tharoor of the Congress raised three objections. First the Members of Parliament are supposed
to be given copies of the Bill in advance before it is introduced. This Bill
has been brought in a surreptitious manner as has been pointed out. The
Minister has to give a written notice of his intention to introduce a
Bill. According to Speaker’s Direction
19B, no Bill shall be included for introduction in the List of Business for a
day until after copies thereof have been made available for the use of Members
for at least two days before the day on which the Bill is proposed to be
introduced. The Bill has not complied with this requirement.
Tharoor’s
second objection was that under the guise of providing recognition to trade
unions by the Central Government or the State Government, the Bill is giving
vast open-ended discretionary powers to the Government to determine which trade
union should or should not be recognized. The Bill fails to lay down
comprehensive objective standards for this determination.
His
third point included a request. He said
it was a matter of shame that the Government has decided to push ahead this
Bill in this manner. Ten Central Trade Unions have written to the Minister
opposing this Bill. The Minister should
take steps to address their concerns. If the Government’s intention is genuine,
why is it pushing this Bill in this fashion when all the stakeholders are
opposing it? He added: A solution to the problem would be to
actually refer this Bill to the Standing Committee.
When
the Treasury refused to do so, some of the members staged a walkout. And the
Bill was passed. (IPA Service)
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