Contract Labour

• Contract Labour is one of the acute forms of unorganized labour. Under the system of contract, labour workers may be employed through a contractor on a contract basis. In this class of labour, the contractors hire men who do the work on the premises of the employer, known as the principal employer but are not deemed to be the employees of the principal employer. The range of tasks performed by such contract workers varies from security to sweeping and catering and is steadily increasing.
• The contract worker is a daily wager or the daily wages are accumulated and given at the end of the month. The industries justify contract labour on the grounds that the requirement is temporary or seasonal. The managements try to by-pass the provisions of social legislation unless they are legally trapped or forced by circumstances, while the judiciary has always upheld the concept of social justice, the dignity of human rights and worker’s welfare.

Contract Labour in India

The system of employing contract labour is prevalent in most industries in different occupations including skilled and semi-skilled jobs. It is also prevalent in agricultural and allied operations and to some extent in the services sector. A workman is deemed to be employed as Contract Labour when he is hired in connection with the work of an establishment by or through a contractor. Contract labour has to be employed for work which is specific and for a definite duration. The Supreme Court of India in the case of Standard Vacuum Refinery Company Vs. their workmen observed that contract labour should not be employed where: —

• The work is perennial and must go on from day today
• The work is incidental to and necessary for the work of the factory
• The work is sufficient to employ a considerable number of whole-time workmen
• The work is being done in most concerns through regular workmen.

The Contract Labour (Regulation & Abolition) Act 1970

• In India, contract labourers are protected by the Contract Labour Regulation and Abolition Act, 1970. A contract labourer is defined in the Act as one who is hired in connection with the work of an establishment by a principal employer through a contractor.
• This act applies to any establishment in which 20 or more workmen are employed on a contract basis on any day of the last one year and also to all contractors who employ or have employed 20 or more workmen on any day of the preceding twelve months.
• If the Government at any point of time is dissatisfied with the practices followed, it can revoke the registration of an establishment.
• For the health and welfare of contract labourers, certain provisions have been made mandatory by the Contract Labour Act such as safe drinking water, canteen facilities, first aid facilities, etc.
• If the contractor fails to pay wages or provide other facilities, the responsibility falls on the principal employer. Field officers of the labor department are supposed to conduct regular inspections to detect violations of the provisions of the Act.

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