2. Impact of Industralisation
Guild Worker close knit social group
Industrial worker : work for long hours and receive low wages
Impact on Environment
Impact on Community
Agriculture as by employment
Cities filled with propertyless workers
Metropolitan lives
Increase in Slums in cities (industrial hubs)
Impact on family
Joint family system to nuclear family system
Loss of cultural values being given down from the family
Division of worker in “work self” and “family self”
Labour Problems in India
Absenteeism
Rural attachment and migratory character
Festivals
Industrial accidents
Alcoholism, gambling etc.
Working conditions
Differences in wages
Indebtedness
Lack of education
Lack of awareness
Labour turnover
Low productivity
Lack of scientific techniques
Definitions :
“efforts to make life worth living for worker”
Oxford Dictionary
“the voluntary efforts of the employers to establish within existing industrial system, working and sometimes
living and cultural conditions of the employees beyond what is required by law, the customs of the industry
and the conditions of the market.”
Encyclopedia of Social Sciences
Objectives of Labour Welfare
Humanitarism or social awareness: This is to enable workers to enjoy full and richer life, to improve the
efficiency of workers and to develop among them a sense of responsibility and dignity and thus make
them worthy citizens of nation
Desire to show off: to maintain position in the society.
However, workers in the unorganised sector, who constitute 90 per cent of the total workforce, by and large,
do not have access to such benefits. Steps need to be taken on a larger scale than before to improve the
quality of working life of the unorganised workers, including women workers.
Necessity
Article 38
“The State shall strive to promote the welfare of the people by securing and protecting as effectively as it
may a social order in which justice, social, economic and political, shall inform all the institutions of the
national life.”
4. Mutual
Labour Welfare Practices in India
Sanitary and hygenic facilities
Education and awareness for sanitation and hygiene in workers
Free from effluvia flowing from any drain or privy
Spitoons
Cleaning for the work area every 6 months
Colouring of work place every 3 years
Washing and urinals separate for males and females
Water provision near the work area
Coolers in summer season
Rest Facilities
Shelters, rest rooms and lunch rooms for factories employing more than 150 employees
No responsibility taken by the employers for this
Feeding facilities
Lockers, sitting and eating area in the place
Canteen for the factory which employs more than 250 or more employees,
Canteen for plantation for the plantations which employs more that 150 or more employees,
Nutritional food at affordable rate
Voluntarily providing canteen facilities by charging the employees
Medical facilities
ESI scheme
Compensation
First aid kit in factory having more that 50 employees
First aid kit and a nurse in factory employing more than 100 employees
Ambulance and dispensary for the factory employing more than 500 employees
This should have a doctor and nurse
Occupational health services
Specify an operation and declare it to be dangerous
Prohibit or restrict the employment of women, children or adolescents in the operation
Periodical medical examination of workers and prohibit those found unfit
Protection for employees
Restrict control the use of specified materials
Provision of milk and healthy food for employees involved in dangerous activities
Creche
Creche should be present in the organisation where more than 50 women employees are employed
Creche should provide all facilities including aayas and food facilities
Housing
Loans
Advances
Housing facilities
5. Transport facilities
Pass
Transport
Transportation for the shift workers
Recreational and cultural facilities
Physical, social, cultural and intellectual benefits
No priority for such facilities in India
Educational Facilities
Loans
Leaves
Unpaid leaves for further studies
Adult welfare centres
Schools for children
Loans for child education
Advances
Library facilities
Book banks
Vocational guidance
Staff training
Cooperatives and saving facilities
PF %
Fair prices shops
Supply schemes
Share capitals
Managerial subsidy
Cooperative Credit Societies
Loans
Various facilities for employees
Personal counselling
Counselling on various issues ranging from personal and official problems
Welfare or labour officers with HR managers involved into this
TSSL and TCS
Distress relief and cash benefit
Ex gratia payments for serious illness or injury, death
Adhoc reliefs based on benevolent approach
Programmes for Unorganised Workers
A statutory provision of minimum wages for employments has been included in the schedule to the
Minimum Wages Act, 1948. However, its coverage and implementation has been inadequate and the actual
wages on the ground are often much lower than those fixed by the appropriate Governments under the Act.
While the tendency to fix minimum wages at unrealistically high levels should be checked, implementation
of wages once fixed should be ensured. While machinery for enforcement of the Act has been strengthened
over the years and is also envisaged in the programmes included in the Plan, it is desirable that a greater
role is played by the workers' organisations, nongovernmental voluntary organisations and organised trade