Protection for inter-State workers

• Activists are demanding strict implementation of the Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979 to ensure the welfare of inter-State migrants who are suffering due to the nationwide lockdown.

About:

• The Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act, 1979 seeks to regulate the employment of inter-State migrants and their conditions of service.

• It is applicable to every establishment and contractor that employs five or more migrant workmen from other States; or if it had employed five or more such workmen on any day in the preceding 12 months.

• The principal employer is prohibited from employing inter-State workmen without a certificate of registration from the relevant authority.

• Every contractor who recruits workmen from one State for deployment in another State should obtain a license to do so. As part of the licensing process, contractors are bound by certain conditions like committing them to provide terms and conditions.

• In no case, shall the wages be lower than what is prescribed under the Minimum Wages Act.