Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Thursday that union government will pursue any amendment on labour laws only after unanimity among all the stake holders and agreed that the issue of minimum wages has to be given serious thought."Government will pursue any amendment on labour laws only after bringing unanimity among trade unions, employers' organisations and state governments," Jaitley told a delegation of Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), the labour wing of the RSS.A delegation of BMS headed by its general secretary Virjesh Upadhyay on Thursday met a Group of Ministers headed by Jaitley. The GOM also includes Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office Jitendra Singh.After the meeting, the BMS said in a statement that Jaitley agreed that minimum wages has to be given serious thought considering the differences in consumer price in major cities and towns.
Upadhyay said that the finance minister asked the labour minister to prepare a formula to work out minimum wage and extend social security schemes to workers. Jaitley also asssured to look into issue of contract workers to make their service condition at par with regular workmen. He said the government will instruct all state governments and central departments, to strictly implement the decision on enhancement of ceiling of bonus.During the meeting, the BMS pushed for the government to take a relook at economic policies to ensure better job creation and to strengthen the PSUs, which are the best model of decent wages, to make the economy run.Jaitley conveyed to the delegation that the government has realised that labour reforms are essential for industrial growth, while the BMS also said that the GOM assured the delegation that the assurances given on 12 point Charter of Demands of the joint trade unions will be implemented with priority in the coming few weeks.