Labour Welfare and Indian Constitution | Labour and Industrial Law - CLAT PG PDF Download

Concept of Labour Welfare in India

• Labour welfare refers to the well-being, happiness, and development of human resources within the workforce.
• It originated in colonial India as a response to the need for cheap labor, with the British government implementing legislations to address labor issues.
• The Fatal Accidents Act of 1853 was one of the early legislations aimed at providing compensation to families of deceased workmen.

Preamble

• The Preamble of the Constitution aims to establish a social order with social, economic, and political justice, ensuring equality and minimizing inequalities among individuals and groups.
• It provides the foundation for labor and social legislation, emphasizing protection and progress for the working class.

Fundamental Rights

• Article 14: Ensures equality before the law, prohibiting special privileges based on factors like birth or creed.
• In cases of unequal pay for equal work, the principle of 'equal pay for equal work' is upheld as a constitutional goal.
• Article 19(1)(c): Guarantees the right to form associations and unions, with the state allowed to impose reasonable restrictions for public order or morality.
• Article 23: Prohibits human trafficking, forced labor, and beggary, with the state obligated to combat these evils.
• Article 24: Forbids the employment of children under 14 in factories and hazardous jobs, protecting their health and safety.
• The rights enshrined in the Constitution strengthen workers' interests, supporting their capacity to form trade unions, engage in collective bargaining, and protect their life and personal liberty.

Directive Principles of State Policy

• An adequate means to livelihood.
• Prevention of the concentration of wealth and means of production.
• Equal pay for equal work for both men and women.
• Protection and preservation of the workers' health.
• The right to work, the right to education, and the right to public assistance in cases of old age, sickness disablement and in other cases of undeserved want.
• Just and humane conditions of work and maternity relief.
• A living wage.
• Participation of workers in management.
• A decent standard of life.

Article 39
Article 39 specifically requires the State to direct its policy towards securing the following principles:

• Equal right of men and women to adequate means of livelihood.
• Distribution of ownership and control of the material resources of the community to the common good.
• To ensure that the economic system should not result in the concentration of wealth and means of production to the common detriment.
• Equal pay for equal work for both men and women.
• To protect the health and strength of workers and the tender age of children and to ensure that they are not forced by economic necessity to enter avocations unsuited to their age or strength.
• That children are given opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity and that childhood and youth are protected against exploitation and against moral and material abandonment.

Article 39(d)

• Pursuant to Article 39 (d), Parliament has enacted the Equal Remuneration Act, 1976. The directive contained in Article 39 (d) and the Act passed thereto can be judicially enforceable by the court.
• In Randhir Singh v. Union of India, the Supreme Court has held that the principle of "Equal pay for equal work though not a fundamental right" is certainly a constitutional goal and, therefore, capable of enforcement through constitutional remedies under Article 32 of the Constitution.
• The doctrine of equal pay for equal work is equally applicable to persons employed on a daily wage basis. They are also entitled to the same wages as other permanent employees in the department employed to do identical work.
• However, the doctrine of 'equal pay for equal work' cannot be put in a strait jacket. This right, although finds a place in Article 39, is an accompaniment of equality clause enshrined in Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution.
• Reasonable classification, based on intelligible criteria having -nexus with the object sought to be achieved is permissible.
• Accordingly, it has been held that different scales of pay in the same cadre of persons doing similar work can be fixed if there is a difference in the nature of work done and as regards reliability and responsibility.
• In State of A.P. v. V. G. Sreenivasa Rao, it has been held that giving higher pay to a junior in the same cadre is not illegal and violative of Articles 14, 16 and 39 (d) if there is a rational basis for it.

Article 41

• Article 41 provides that within the limits of its economic capacity the State shall secure for the Right to work and education.

Article 42

• Article 42 instructs the State to make provisions for securing just and humane conditions of work and for maternity relief.

Article 43

• Article 43 refers to a "living wage" and not "minimum wage". The concept of living wage includes in addition to the bare necessities of life, such as food, shelter and clothing, provisions for the education of children and insurance etc.

Article 45

• Article 45 required the State to make provision within 10 years for free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of 14 years.
• The object was to abolish illiteracy from the country.
• In a landmark judgment in Unni Krishnan v. State of A.P.the Supreme Court has held that the "Right to education" upto the age of 14 years is a fundamental right within the meaning of Article 21 of the Constitution, but thereafter the obligation of the State to provide education is subject to the limits of its economic capacity.
• "The right to education flows directly from right to life", the Court declared.

Article 47

• Article 47 imposes a duty upon the State to raise the level of nutrition and the standard of living of its people and the improvement of public health.
• In particular, the State should bring about prohibition of the consumption except for medicinal purposes of intoxicating drinks and of drugs which are injurious to health.

Article 46

• Article 46 enjoins the States to promote with special care the education and economic interest of the weaker sections of the people, and in particular of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, and to protect them from social injustice and of all forms of exploitation.

Article 39-A

• Article 39-A directs the State to ensure that the operation of the legal system promotes justice, on a basis of equal opportunities and shall, in particular, provide free legal aid, by suitable legislation or schemes or in any other way, to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disabilities.
• This article was added to the Constitution pursuant to the new policy of the Government to give legal aid to economically backward classes of people.

Implementation of Directives

• By and large, industrial legislation has been directed towards the implementation of these directives.
• The Factories Act, 1948, the Employees' State Insurance Act, 1948, the Workmen's Compensation Act, 1948, the Child and Adolescent Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act and several other labour legislation seek to regulate the employment of women and children in factories and other industrial establishments.
• The provision of just and humane conditions of work; the protection of health; and compensation for injuries received during work.
• The Minimum Wages Act provides for the fixation of minimum wages; the Payment of Wages Act regulates wage payment, and the Payment of Bonus Act seeks to bridge the gap between the minimum wage and a living wage.
• But the directives relating to the distribution of wealth, living wages, and even the equal remuneration and public assistance in cases of undeserved want have not been generally implemented as yet.