Industrial & Labour Laws

INDUSTRIAL & LABOUR LAWS

All of the laws regulating the conditions under which employees work for employers are called labor and industrial law. The many issues controlled by this body of law include hours of labor, child labor, minimum wage, unemployment insurance, and the rights of collective bargaining by labor unions. Labor and industrial law also deals with worker safety and health, workers’ compensation, disability insurance, and social security.

While governments have seen fit to legislate in these and other areas, many of the laws are no more than general guidelines. The specifics are frequently left to arrangements between employers and employees within a company or industry.

The law relating to labour and employment is also known as Industrial law in India. The history of labour legislation in India is interwoven with the history of British colonialism. The industrial/labour legislations enacted by the British were primarily intended to protect the interests of the British employers. Considerations of British political economy were naturally paramount in shaping some of these early laws. Thus came the Factories Act. It is well known that Indian textile goods offered stiff competition to British textiles in the export market and hence in order to make India labour costlier the Factories Act was first introduced in 1883 because of the pressure brought on the British parliament by the textile magnates of Manchester and Lancashire. Thus India received the first stipulation of eight hours of work, the abolition of child labour, and the restriction of women in night employment, and the introduction of overtime wages for work beyond eight hours. While the impact of this measure was clearly welfarist the real motivation was undoubtedly protectionist. The earliest Indian statute to regulate the relationship between employer and his workmen was the Trade Dispute Act, 1929 (Act 7 of 1929). Provisions were made in this Act for restraining the rights of strike and lock out but no machinery was provided to take care of disputes. The original colonial legislation underwent substantial modifications in the post-colonial era because independent India called for a clear partnership between labour and capital. The content of this partnership was unanimously approved in a tripartite conference in December 1947 in which it was agreed that labour would be given a fair wage and fair working conditions and in return capital would receive the fullest co-operation of labour for uninterrupted production and higher productivity as part of the strategy for national economic development and that all concerned would observe a truce period of three years free from strikes and lockouts. Ultimately the Industrial Disputes Act (the Act) brought into force on 01.04.1947 repealing the Trade Disputes Act 1929 has since remained on statute book.

Labour laws enacted by the Central Government, where the Central Government has the sole responsibility for enforcement:

1. The Employees’ State Insurance Act, 1948


2. The Employees’ Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act,1952


3. The Dock Workers (Safety, Health and Welfare) Act, 1986


4. The Mines Act, 1952


5. The Iron Ore Mines, Manganese Ore Mines and Chrome Ore Mines Labour Welfare (Cess) Act, 1976 6. The Iron Ore Mines, Manganese Ore Mines and Chrome Ore Mines Labor Welfare Fund Act, 1976


6. The Mica Mines Labour Welfare Fund Act, 1946


7. The Beedi Workers Welfare Cess Act, 1976


8. The Limestone and Dolomite Mines Labour Welfare Fund Act, 1972


9. The Cine Workers Welfare (Cess) Act, 1981


10. The Beedi Workers Welfare Fund Act, 1976


11. The Cine Workers Welfare Fund Act, 1981

13. The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986


14. The Building and Other Constructions Workers’ (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996


15. The Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970


16. The Equal Remuneration Act, 1976


17. The Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.

19. The Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979.20. The Labour Laws (Exemption from Furnishing Returns and Maintaining Registers by Certain Establishments) Act, 1988


20. The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961


21. The Minimum Wages Act, 1948


22. The Payment of Bonus Act, 1965


23. The Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972


24. The Payment of Wages Act, 1936


25. The Cine Workers and Cinema Theatre Workers (Regulation of Employment) Act, 1981


26. The Building and Other Construction Workers Cess Act, 1996


27. The Apprentices Act, 1961


28. Unorganized Workers Social Security Act, 2008


29. Working Journalists (Fixation of Rates of Wages Act, 1958


30. Merchant Shipping Act, 1958


31. Sales Promotion Employees Act, 1976


32. Dangerous Machines (Regulation) Act, 1983


33. Dock Workers (Regulation of Employment) Act, 1948


34. Dock Workers (Regulation of Employment) (Inapplicability to Major Ports) Act, 1997


35. Private Security Agencies (Regulation) Act, 2005

37. The Employers’ Liability Act, 1938


38. The Factories Act, 1948


39. The Motor Transport Workers Act, 1961


40. The Personal Injuries (Compensation Insurance) Act, 1963


41. The Personal Injuries (Emergency Provisions) Act, 1962


42. The Plantation Labour Act, 1951


43. The Sales Promotion Employees (Conditions of Service) Act, 1976


44. The Trade Unions Act, 1926


45. The Weekly Holidays Act


46. The Working Journalists and Other Newspapers Employees (Conditions of Service) and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1955


47. The Workmen’s Compensation Act, 1923


48. The Employment Exchange (Compulsory Notification of Vacancies) Act, 1959


49. The Children (Pledging of Labour) Act 1938


50. The Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976


51. The Beedi and Cigar Workers (Conditions of Employment) Act, 1966