ON June 24, the new union labour minister, Narendra Singh Tomar, had had his first meeting with the central trade unions at Shram Shakti Bhawan in New Delhi. The minister of state for labour, Vishnudeo Sai, was also present in the meeting along with the labour secretary, chief labour commissioner (central), central provident fund commissioner, financial commissioner, and ESIC and other labour department officials. 

PRE-BUDGET CONSULTATION WITH FM
ON June 6, the finance minister of the government of India called all the central trade union organisations for a pre-budget consultation. At the meeting, all the central trade union organisations submitted a joint memorandum to the finance minister detailing the burning issues facing the working people of the country; the memorandum also put forward suggestions of the trade unions to address the problems in the process of the budgetary exercise. 

ORGANISED by the Kerala State General Insurance Employees Union (KSGIEU), which is affiliated to the All India Insurance Employees Association (AIIEA), a seminar sought to highlight the plight of public sector undertakings in Ernakulam district of the state. The seminar on ‘Relevance of Public Sector Undertakings,’ organised at Kochi as part of the General Insurance Nationalisation Day observances on May 13, 2014, highlighted the threat the profit making public sector general insurance companies are facing from the government’s reckless privatisation and liberalisation policies.

THE system of engaging contract workers has witnessed a change from bad to worse. In the early days, employers used to employ contract workers mainly in peripheral and low-skill work in their enterprises, though many of these works were of a permanent and continual nature, while operational jobs were generally manned by regular workers.