Industrial Relations Bill, 2015

What is the need for the bill?

• The Union labour ministry has drafted the new legislation to merge three central labour laws into one.
• The initiative assumes significance in the backdrop of the government’s bid to consolidate and reduce the number of central laws.
• It is done to encourage compliance and improve the ease of doing business. Fewer laws mean better monitoring, easy compliance, and benefit to both industries and workers

What are the provisions of the bill?

• The Labour Code on Industrial Relations Bill, 2015, proposes to combine Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, the Trade Unions Act, 1926, and the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946.  The bill, in its present form, has 107 sections in 13 chapters to deal with all industrial relations issues.
• The bill shall consolidate and amend the law relating to registration of trade unions, conditions of employment, investigation and settlement of disputes and the matters related therewith or incidental thereto.
• It shall extend to the whole of India.
• No worker employed in any industrial establishment shall go on strike in breach of contract –
• Without giving to the employer notice of strike, within six weeks before striking
• Within fourteen days of giving such notice
• Before the expiry of the date of strike specified in any such notice as aforesaid; or
• During the pendency of any conciliation proceedings before a conciliation officer
• During the pendency of proceedings before an Industrial Tribunal or National Tribunal
• During the pendency of arbitration proceedings before an arbitrator,
• No employer or worker or a trade union shall commit any unfair labor practice like threatening workers with discharge or dismissal if they join a trade union or workers instigating an illegal strike.
• It will cover three key aspects—the right to association, the right to collective bargaining, and the right to collective service conditions. All central labour unions believe these three issues—the essence of the three bills—shall not be tampered with.
• All workers employed in industries for more than a year will get three months of notice in case there is a plan for retrenchment. But it shall not apply to an undertaking set up for the construction of buildings, bridges, roads, canals, dams or for other construction work.