THE CITU, in a statement issued on October 6, has condemned the reported rejection by the union cabinet of the proposal to reduce the threshold of industrial units for the coverage of Employees Provident Fund.  Actually, the government has gone back on its own assurance given in the parliament to reduce the existing threshold of 20 workers to 10.  The government  had been claiming that 50 lakh more workers will be benefited by this change.  The proposal to cover factories with at least 10 workers has been pending from 2012, when the 44th Indian Labour Conference had recommended it.  The Central Board of Trustees of the EPFO had also taken a decision on this.

The government which has been claiming of extending social security net to more workers, has preferred to serve the interests of the employers, against the interests of workers.

The CITU registers its strong protest over this change of decision of the government and demands that the long pending decision of reduction of threshold to 10 workers be implemented without any further delay.