Challenging times seemingly lie ahead for the State as it witnessed at least three labour agitations every day last year. For the aspiring industrial Odisha, such a rate of labour agitation seems no good news as the India Risk Survey 2014 identified large-scale labour unrest as the biggest risk for a potential investor.
According to data available with the State Home Department, agitations by the labour class in the State last year have been around 900. However, the State is not alone as far as labour unrest is concerned. Recent Union Home Ministry data categorised Tamil Nadu as the State reporting most incidents of labour unrest in the country.
But disconcerting news for the State is its competitor Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and even West Bengal has a better report card to show with only a half of the State’s scorecard for last three years. The disturbing trend is since 2010-11 Odisha has been in the top-5 states with high labour agitations nationally. More worrying is agitations are clocking an increase by one-third cases every year.
Agitations take a toll too. Eastern Zone Mining Association’s assessment observed that sustained agitations in the mining sector in the State for last two years have an impact on the mining output that had grave implications on State’s revenue. Interestingly, the data reveals that most of the workers agitations have been from iron and steel sector only. Instances are galore. Neelachal refractory has seen lock out for a massive labour unrest last year. Massive labour unrest witnessed last year in Bhusan Plant and recently in Kalinganagar.
Veteran trade union leader Janardan Pati lays the blame at Government’s door. Disputing Government’s hands-off policy, he said in Odisha the provisions of Industrial Disputes act 1947 and the amended Industrial Relations Bill 1982 are not implemented properly. Provisions ask employers to set up works committees but it remains on paper and the State didn’t care to enforce. Similarly, appointment of conciliation officers in case of disputes is an unheard practice in this government.
Noted Constitutional expert BR Patil calls industrial relation a tripartite, not bipartite, arrangement. He observed that though this is a complex of inter-relations but objective and prudent State interventions could help significantly in achieving institutional goals.
An analysis of the labour Bureau data reveals the causes as demand for higher wages, loss of jobs and workers’ safety and security. The labour wage statistics show that the per day wage difference of a technician working in industrial units here with his Chhattisgarh counterpart is around 200-300 per cent. A labour department assessment finds that the bane for State’s mining sector is though use of contract labour in the sector has been a national trend, job shedding in Odisha brings more problems as a vast number are unskilled with little chance of re-employment
Downplaying the agitation numbers, State labour Mnister Prafulla Mallick said industrial disputes are not high in the State. The man-days lost in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka is very high. Odisha doesn’t figure in the top-10 list. Alluding to Toyota-Kirloskar Motors lock out in Karnataka last year, Mallick said Odisha didn’t report any such big shake-up in recent years. The department is working out a comprehensive plan and would shortly convene a district labour officers’ meeting in this regard.