LABOR AND INDUSTRIAL LAWS

TUTORIAL- II
INDIA’S ASSOCIATION WITH THE ILO: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Mrigakshi Singh (15010323169)

Submission In the month of

Under the guidance of

Symbiosis Law School, Hyderabad

India which is a founder member of the International Labor Organization, which came into
existence in 1919. At present the ILO has 186 members in its organization. A very unique feature
to consider about ILO is its tripartite character and also the members and the membership of the
ILO ensures the growth of tripartite system in the member countries. At every level in the
organization, governments are also associated with the two other partners who can be called as
the workers and employers. ILO was set up with an aim to develop the conditions of labors not
only in India but around the world. India was the instituting member of IL, which now expanded
its primary membership to 145 countries. The main and the foremost objective of action in the
ILO is the creation of International Labor Standards in the form of resolutions and
recommendations. Resolutions are international treaties and instruments, which generate legally
binding responsibilities on the nations and that, ratify those nations for becoming member for
ILO. Recommendations are actually not a binding on anyone but better they set out certain
guidelines orienting worldwide policies, procedures to be followed and then help in developing
actions. Labor Law controls matters related to remuneration, labor employment, conditions of
employment, trade unions, and industrial and also labor management relations. It also includes
social legislations regulating such characteristics as there can be the compensation for accidents
triggered to a worker at a work place, maternity benefits, fixation of minimum wages etc. as,
according to these regulating mechanism the rights and responsibilities of employee are also
regulated.

As, we move on towards the history of Indian labor legislation which is obviously intertwined
with the history of British colonialism. British political economy was in that particular point of
time considered being a natural paramount in modeling some of these early laws. In the very
initial stage it was very difficult to get the adequate regular Indian workers to run the British
organizations and hence labor laws become essentials in every stage of management in case of
laborers. This was obviously labor law giving in order to protect the interests of British bosses.
There was an outcome which was factories act which came into existence. It was well known
that the Indian textile industries which offered goods and also unbending competition to the
British textile market and then as a result of which the Indian labor became costlier. There was
the establishment of Factories Act in 1883 because of pressure which was carried on the British
parliament by the then textile tycoons of Manchester. Thus, we can say that we acknowledge the
very requirement eight hours for labor, the abolition of child labor, restriction of employment of
women in the night shifts and also inaction of overtime wages for labor who worked beyond
eight hours which was the prescribed working hours for everyone.

Further its can be stated that the attitude of India with respect to International Labor standards
has always been taken in the very constructive sense. The Indian Labor organization has many
tools which have the provided procedures and also all the useful framework for the development
of legislative and administrative procedures for the protection and also for the progression in the
interest of laborers. To consider that point of impact of ILO resolutions as a regular reference for
both labor legislation and also practices in India, rather than legally binding norm or rules which
has been substantial. It has always been followed in India that if we ratify a resolutions and then
when we entirely satisfied that these laws and the practices are in confirmation with the
appropriate ILO resolutions. India has also ratified 39 conventions of the ILO, which is much
better than the position obtained in other countries.

MAJOR IMPACT OF ILO ON LABOR LEGISLATIONS IN INDIA

With the establishment and also the expansion of all the small plants, factories and industries in
the Indian subcontinent starting in the mid of the 19th century, with new possibilities for
employment were also generated which resulted in an ongoing migration of the labor from poor
rural areas to the factories and also the mills located basically in urban areas. During that time,
there was lack of any control on the organization’s labor by the state; the employers were also
very less concerned for the needs of workers, wages very also very low, very long working hours
and also there were unsatisfactory employment conditions. The situation also leads to the
depiction of a large number of labor legislations beginning since the year of 1881. There were
many labor legislations which includes The Factories Act 1881, Workmen’s Compensation Act -
1923, Mines Act 1923, Trade Unions Act-1926, Trade Disputes Act -1929, Payment of Wages
Act -1936, Employment of children act- 1938 and Maternity Benefit Act in 1939.
 CONCLUSION

Most of the labor legislations in India are established before the Independence. The main
fundamental rights of the constitution which is for providing safeguards to the labors and also the
equal pay system to all the laborers. Although most of the pre-constitutional labor legislation
have also been revoked or curtailed following the doctrines provided in the constitution i.e.
Doctrine of Severability and Doctrine of Eclipse, but not a lot of changes has been made in the
Indian labor legislations which came into existence before the adoption of the constitution. The
achievement of these labor laws must be credited to the ILO. The ILO guidelines provided the
basic principles on which most of labor legislations were drawn upon. The constructive effect of
ILO is seen in form of appreciation of many new kinds of rights that were previously not
available for the Indian labor class, but were made available after creation of ILO.