IIO  and Social Security

'The  International  Labour  Organization  was  founded  in   19 19  for  the

primary  purpose  of  promoting  social  justice   and   improving  the   living  and

working  conditions of  workers  throughout the  world.  It  made  a  beginning  in

this  field  by   emphasizing  the  importance  of  comprehensive  social   security

measures in the preamble to its constitution, in  which  it  promised  "protection

of   the    worker    against   sickness,   disease   and    injury    arising   out   of    his

employment, the protection  of children, young persons  and women,  provision

for old age and injury

In order to implement the measures the ILO took certain steps ( l ) It tried to create international standards by way of recommendations regarding

the  definitions of  social  security  (2)  It  collected  and  spread  the  information

about  soctal  security  schemes  in  various  countries  (3)  It  provided  t e c h c a l

assistance  and   suidance  so  that   social  security  schemes  may   be   properly

formulated by means of co-operation with  other social organizations, Twenty-

nine  conventions and  twenty-seven  resolutions passed  by  ILO  refer  to  socialsecurity    The   1LO  researches,   publications,   studies   and   reports   have   all

underlined the importance of social security.

7.8   Social Security in  India

The following legislative measures have been adopted by the government of India by way of social security schemes for industrial workers.

I.  Workmen 's compensationAct  1923

Under the  Act,  compensation is  payable  by  the  employer to  workmen

for  all  personal  injuries caused  to  him  by  accident  arising  out  of  and  in  the

course of his employment which disable hlm for more than three days. If the workman dies, the compensation is to be paid to his dependents.

11.  employee   Stale InsuranceAct,  1948

Under  the Act,  an insured person is entitled to receive benefits such as

medical   benefit,   sickness   benefit,   maternity   benefit,   disablement   benefit,

dependents benefit, funeral benefit etc.

Ill .  The employee.Provident Funds and Mi.sce1laneozr.s i'rovovisiotz~Act,  l952

The  Act  has  made  schemes  for  three  types  of  benefits  viz,  provident

fund, family person  and deposit linked insurance.

lndcr  the  Act  gratuity is payable to an  employee on  the termination of

his  employment after he has rendered  continuous  service for not  less then  tive

years.  ' f i e   completion  of  continuos  service  of  five  years  is,   however,  not

necessary   where   the   termination   of   the   employment   is   due   to   death   or

disablement.

V. Me  l~ld?cstnali) ~ s / ~ wActe  I947

Under  the  Act,  a retrenched  worker  is  entitled to  compensation  at  the

rate  of  15 days  average  earning  for  every  completed  years  of  service  or  part

thereof   When  the  closure of  the  undertaking  is due  to  circumstances  beyond

the control of the  employer,  compensation is limited to the maximum  of three

months average earnings.

VI. Maternity Benefits Acts,  1961

'The     Act     applies     to     women     in     factories,     mines     and     other

establishments. Tnis Act replaced the Mines Act and it was adopted by most of the states. It does not apply to those covered by the ESI schemes.

VII. Coal Mine.s l'rovident  Fzmd Bontrs Scltente Arr  I948

It   applies   to   workers   employed   in   the   coal   mines   (including   the

National   Coal   [levelopment   Corporation   )  earning   less   than    Rs.300   per

month. The  Bonus  scheme  applies  to  all  those  earning  less than  Rs.7301- per

month   in   coal   mines  other   than   the   NCDC   and   is   paid   entirely   by   the

employers.

VIIl. The Seaman '.F I'rovideni  fimd Act  1966
Under    t h ~ s workers    contribution    of	8	percent	with	an	equal

contribution from the employers and are entitled to a full refund on  retirement

or after  15 years of membership.

IX   The I'lantation  Labour Act  I951

The benefits statutorily provided under this Act include the provision of drinking water and its conservancy, medical facilities, canteen in the ease

of 150 or more workers, creches in case of 50 or more women workers, recreational fac~lities,umbrellas, blankets and rain coats. Cash benefits in the

case  of  sickness  and  maternity  are  also available to  the  workers  as  per  rules

prescribed    by    the    state   governments   which    also   lay    down    qualifying

conditions.

X Employees lfirmily Pension Scheme,  1971

The family pension  seeks to provide some monetary relief to the family

members of employees, who die in service, that is, before superannuation. In the event of an employee's death his family gets pension on a graded scale

depending on the employee's last salary grade.

7.9   Recent Trends

Whlle   most   employers   offer   a   vanety    of   benefits   to   employees,

employees very  rarely  have  any  cholce in the  benefits they  recelve   Employee

benefits   are   generally  selected   for   employees  by   management    One   study

found that unlon representatlves d ~ dnot have a good Idea of the benefits deslred by thelr constituents" Another study found that when glven the

opportunity,  80 percent  of the  respondents  were  in  favour of  changes In  thelr

benefits packages ^IX

In  the  l~yhtof the  above findings  the  recent  "cafeteria  style"  approach

to benefit  represents  a major  step in  the  evolution of  employee benefits  based

on   age,   sex,  number   of  children   family  status,   life   style  and   preferences.

Under this system, each employee is allowed to select on individual combination of benefits within some over all limits. There are two important

advantages to a cafeteria style approach. First, it allows employees to have the

benefits, they need and desire most, second, by their active involvement in benefits selection, employees become more aware of the benefits they have

and of their cost". But at times an in appropriate benefit package may be chosen by employees.20

Labour   welfare   services   is   an   important   personnel   functlon   in   a

business.   The  earlier   view   of  considering   labour   as  nothing   more  than   a

factor  of  production   had   changed  over  the  years  and  now   welfare  for  the

employees holds a place of importance in the minds of every employer.

The eft'ectlve utilization of other  factors of  production  depends on  the

efficiency of human factor. The worker spends more than a quarter of his life in his working place. Therefore the workers has every right to demand that

the condition under which he works should be reasonable and provides proper

safeguards  for  life  and  health.  The  amount  of  dedication,  quality  of  work,

commitment  to  the  organisation,  morale  etc.  are  all  determined  by  the  type

and amount of  welfare a worker  receives.