Unorganised workers need to be aware of rights

Visakahapatnam: The unorganised workers should be aware of the labour laws to fight for their rights, said Principal Senior Civil Judge B Chakrapani.

He was speaking at ‘Connecting to Survey’ programme organised by the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) in association with labour department at Kupam Market in the city on Saturday.

This programme was conducted by the National Legal Services Authority (NLSA) to create awareness among the workers about the laws.
Addressing a gathering of unorganised labourers, Judge Chakrapani said workers should get themselves registered at labour department before having identity cards to claim for the benefits.

“If the labour department fails to resolve problems, then they can be brought to the notice of DLSA for solution,” he said and added that the Central government has given the nod for conducting a nation-wide survey to identify the unorganised workers.

Stating that there was no provision for the unorganised workers to move court over unpaid wages, he said with the amendment of labour laws, the labourers can approach the judiciary now.

Speaking on the occasion, labour department joint commissioner G Lakshmi Narsaiah said as women working in the domestic sector have more chances of facing discrimination and violence, they could approach DLSA to get free legal services.

He reminded that agricultural labourers should work only for six hours and employees in other sectors toil for eight hours per day, according to the norms. Judge Muralidhar Rao said the workers should enrol themselves for Bhima schemes to get benefits.

AITUC leader Ramanujam recalled that Ram Vilas Paswan, the then Union Labour Minister, who brought a draft bill for the welfare of workers, was crushed by the successive governments.

He criticised the government for utilising the money collected through cess for other purposes instead workers’ welfare. He also pointed out that labour department was facing staff crunch.