Impact of ILO on Labor Laws in India

by APURV_KARMAKAR on MAY 21, 2009

The ILO (International Labor Organization) was set up in the year 1919, with an aim to improve the conditions
of labors around the world.India was the founding member of ILO, which has now expanded its membership
to 145 nations. ILO through its conventions and recommendations helps nations to draw their own set of labor
laws for the better treatment of the working class, and the preservation of their rights. The principal means of
action in the ILO is the setting up the International Labor Standards in the form of Conventions and
Recommendations. Conventions are international treaties and are instruments, which create legally binding
obligations on the countries that ratify them. Recommendations are non-binding and set out guidelines
orienting national policies and actions.

Labor Law regulates matters, such as, labor employment, remunerations, and conditions of work, trade
unions, and labor management relations. They also include social laws regulating such aspects as
compensation for accident caused to a worker at work, fixation of minimum wages, maternity benefits,
sharing of the company’s profit by the workers, and so on. Most of these legal instruments regulate rights and
responsibilities of the working people.

The approach of India with regard to International Labor Standards has always been positive. The ILO
instruments have provided guidelines and useful framework for the evolution of legislative and administrative
measures for the protection and advancement of the interest of labor. To that extent the influence of ILO
Conventions as a standard for reference for labor legislation and practices in India, rather than as a legally
binding norm, has been significant. Ratification of a Convention imposes legally binding obligations on the
country concerned and, therefore, India has been careful in ratifying Conventions. It has always been the
practice in India that we ratify a Convention when we are fully satisfied that our laws and practices are in
conformity with the relevant ILO Convention. It is now considered that a better course of action is to proceed
with progressive implementation of the standards, leave the formal ratification for consideration at a later
stage when it becomes practicable. We have so far rat

ified 39 Conventions of the ILO, which is much better than the position obtaining in many other countries.
Even where for special reasons, India may not be in a position to ratify a Convention, India has generally
voted in favor of the Conventions reserving its position as far as its future ratification is concerned.

Core Conventions of the ILO: - The eight Core Conventions of the ILO (also called fundamental/human rights
conventions) are:

Forced Labor Convention (No. 29)

Abolition of Forced Labor Convention (No.105)

Equal Remuneration Convention (No.100)

Discrimination (Employment Occupation) Convention (No.111)

(The above four have been ratified by India).

Freedom of Association and Protection of Right to Organized Convention (No.87)

Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining Convention (No.98)

Minimum Age Convention (No.138)

Worst forms of Child Labor Convention (No.182)

(These four are yet to be ratified by India)

Consequent to the World Summit for Social Development in 1995, the above-mentioned Conventions (Sl.No.1
to 7) were categorized as the Fundamental Human Rights Conventions or Core Conventions by the ILO. Later
on, Convention No.182 (Sl.No.8) was added to the list.

As per the Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and its Follow-up, each Member State of
the ILO is expected to give effect to the principles contained in the Core Conventions of the ILO, irrespective
of whether or not the Core Conventions have been ratified by them.

Under the reporting procedure of the ILO, detailed reports are due from the member States that have ratified
the priority Conventions and the Core Conventions every two years. Under the Follow-up to the ILO
Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, a report is to be made by each Member State
every year on those Core Conventions that it has not yet ratified.

Active partnership policy & multi-disciplinary team

One of the major reforms initiated recently is the launching of the “Active Partnership Policy” whose aim is to
bring ILO closer to its constituents. The main instrument for implementation of the policy – is the multi-
disciplinary team, which will help identify special areas of concern and provide technical advisory services to
member States to translate ILO’s core mandate into action. The multi-disciplinary team for South-Asia is
based in New Delhi. It consists of specialists on employment, industrial relations, workers and employers’
activity, small-scale enterprises and International Labor Standards.

Child Labor Legislations

ILO’s interest in child labor, young persons and their problems is well known. It has adopted a number of
Conventions and Recommendations in this regard. In India, within a framework of the Child Labor (Prohibition
and Regulations) Act, 1986 and through the National Policy on Child Labor, ILO has funded the preparation of
certain local and industry specific projects. In two projects, viz. Child Labor Action and Support Programmes
(CLASP) and International Programme on Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC), the ILO is playing a vital role.

The implementation of IPEC programmes in India has certainly created a very positive impact towards
understanding the problem of child labor and in highlighting the need to elimination child labor as
expeditiously as possible. A major contribution of the IPEC programme in India is that it has generated a
critical consciousness among all the 3 social partners for taking corrective measures to eliminate child labor.

The effect of ILO on Labor legislation in India

With the growth and expansion of factories and industries in the subcontinent beginning in the mid-
nineteenth century, new avenues for employment were created, resulting in a gradual migration of the labor
force from rural areas to mills and factories located primarily in urban areas. At that time, in the absence of
any state control or organization of the workers, the employers were less concerned about the needs of their
employees; the work hours were too long, wages much below the subsistence level, and the workers’
employment conditions were unsatisfactory. The situation led to the enactment of a number of legislations
beginning from the year 1881. These include, inter alia, the Factories Act (1881), Workmen’s Compensation
Act (1923), Trade Unions Act (1926), Trade Disputes Act (1929), Payment of Wages Act (1936), Maternity
Benefit Act (1939), and the Employment of Children Act
The Factories Act 1881 is the basis of all labor and industrial laws of the country. It contained provisions even
for hours of work of women and workers including that of minimum age for employment of children. After the
International Labor Organization (ILO) was formed in 1919, this Act was amended and thereafter repealed,
resulting in the promulgation of the Factories Act 1934. It makes provision for safety, health and hygiene of
the workers and special provision for women and juvenile workers. It also prohibits child labor. It limits work of
a child in factories, including the seasonal ones.

Under the Mines Act 1923 which applies to workers employed in mines, the hours of work for persons
employed on surface are limited to ten per day and fifty four per week. The periods of work including rest
interval shall not spread over more than 12 hours in any day. For workers employed underground, the daily
limit is nine hours per day. The Act does not contain provisions as to overtime work. No worker is to work in a
mine for more than six days a week. The Act does not provide for wages for the weekly rest day.

The government of India set up an enquiry committee in 1926 to ascertain the loophole for irregularity of
payment of wages to industrial workers. The Royal Commission on Labor appointed in 1929 considered the
reports and suggestions of the aforesaid enquiry committee and recommended for enactment for prevention
of maladies relating to payment of wages resulting in the promulgation of the Payment of Wages Act in 1936.
It aimed, firstly, at disbursement of actual distributable wages to workers within the prescribed period and,
secondly, to ensure that the employees get their full wages without any deduction. The Act was passed to
regulate the payment of wages to certain classes of persons employed in industry. The object of the Act
obviously was to provide a cheap and speedy remedy for employees to whom the Act applied inter alia, to
recover wages due to them, and for that purpose, a special tribunal was subsequently created, but due to
some inherent defects in the statute the recovery of decree able wages rema
ined difficult.

The Weekly Holidays Act of 1942 prescribes one paid holiday a week for persons employed in any shop,
restaurant or theatre (excepting those employed in a confidential capacity or in a position of management).
The government is empowered to grant additional half-day holiday with pay in a week

The Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 came into being on the 1st day of April 1947. The Act provided for
establishment of industrial tribunals by the appropriate government in British India. It established a full-
fledged industrial tribunal for adjudication of industrial disputes for the first time

The Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946 came into operation for the first time requiring
employers in industrial establishments employing 100 or more workmen to define the terms of employment
of workmen in the form of standing orders which should be in general conformity with the model standing
orders incorporated in the Act. The Merchant Shipping Act, 1923 provided for an agreement between a
seaman and the master of the ship regarding terms of service

Conclusion:

Labor class is indeed one of the classes most vulnerable to exploitation if not the most. Most of the labor
legislations in India are pre – constitutional. The concept of Fundamental Rights was introduced the
Constitution. Although most of the pre – constitutional legislations have been repealed or curtailed following
the Doctrine of Eclipse and Doctrine of Severability, not a lot of changes have had to be made to the labor
laws that were well passed before the Constitution. The success of these labor legislations must be attributed
to the ILO, as the guidelines issued by the ILO were formed the principles on which these legislations were
drawn. By observing the passage of Labor Legislations in India, through the various amendments and
enactments, it is evident that the ILO did have a great impact on the Labor Laws in India. Many new laws
were enacted to incorporate the guidelines of the conventions of the ILO that were ratified by India. The
setting up of ILO also saw the amendment of Factories Act, 1881. Al

l these amended and enacted legislations make provisions for the general welfare and protection of interest
of the labors in India. The positive influence of ILO is seen in form of recognition of many new kinds of rights
that were erstwhile not available to the labor class, but were made available post the creation of ILO.