Monday 18 May 2015

Principles of Labour Legislation

 Principle of Protection: The principle of protection suggests enactment of labour legislation to protect those workers who are not able to protect their interests on their own and also workers, in particular industries against the hazards of industrial processes.

2. Principle of Social Justice: The principle of social justice implies establishment of equality in social relationships. It aims at removing discrimination suffered by particular groups of labour. History is replete with examples where certain groups of society or labour have been subjected to various sorts of disabilities as compared to other groups or workers in general.

3. Principle of Regulation: The principle of Regulation generally seeks to regulate the relationships between the employers and their associations, on the one hand, and workers and their organisations, on the other. As the relationships between the two groups have repercussions on the society, the laws enacted on this principle also aim at safeguarding the interests of the society against the adverse consequences of collusion or combination between them. Thus, the principle of regulation seeks to regulate the balance of power in the relationships of the two dominant groups in industrial relations.

4. Principle of Welfare:  Although the protective and social security laws have the effect of promoting labour welfare, special labour welfare or labour welfare fund laws have also been enacted, with a view to providing certain welfare amenities to the workers, and often to their family members also.
  The main purpose behind the enactment of labour laws on this principle is to ensure the provision of certain basic amenities to workers at their place of work and also, to improve the living conditions of workers and their family members.

5. Principle of Social Security:  Lord William Beveridge, the pioneer in initiating a comprehensive social security plan mentioned five giants in the patch of social progress namely, „want‟, „sickness‟, „ignorance‟, „squalor‟, and „idleness‟.
 One of the outstanding measures to mitigate the hardship is to make available social security benefits under the coverage of legislation. Social security legislation may be kept under two broad categories – social insurance legislation and social assistance legislation. In social insurance, benefits are generally made available to the insured persons, under the condition of having paid the required contributions and fulfilling certain eligibility conditions.
In social assistance also, the beneficiaries receive benefits as a matter of right, but they do not have to make any contributions. The finance is made available by the state or a source specified by the state. Social assistance benefits are generally paid to persons of insufficient means and on consideration of their minimum needs.


6. Principle of Economic Development: Labour laws have also been enacted keeping in view the need for economic and industrial development of particular countries. Improvement of physical working conditions, establishment of industrial peace, provision of machineries for settlement of industrial disputes, formation of forums of workers‟ participation in management, prohibition of unfair labour practices, restrictions on strikes and lock-outs, provision of social security benefits and welfare facilities, certification of collective agreements and regulation of hours of work have direct or indirect bearing on the pace and extent of economic development.

 7. Principle of International Obligation: This principle postulates enactment of labour laws with a view to giving effect to the provisions of resolutions, adopted by international organisations like ILO, UN and similar other bodies. In general, the countries ratifying the resolutions or agreements are under the obligation to enforce them. One of the instruments of doing so is the enactment of laws.

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