PLENARY SESSION OF TRIPARTITE LABOUR CONFERENCE 197
Dr. Ambedkar’s Memorandum
An indication of the action taken by the Central Government subsequent to the discussions at the Tripartite Labour Conference and its Standing Labour Committee is given by Dr. Ambedkar, in the Memorandum placed before the Labour conference. Among the subjects covered by the Memorandum are : Settlement of trade disputes, Labour welfare, Food supplies to industrial labour, Fair wage clause in Government contracts, Labour Officers in industrial undertakings, Employment exchanges, Industrial statistics, Involuntary unemployment, Labour representation, Social Security, dearness Allowance and Industrial canteens.
The consensus of opinion at the third meeting of the Standing Labour committee in May, 1943, was that the Government of India should proceed with the establishment of employment exchanges. A proposal to prohibit advertising for technical personnel was also put forward by the Central Government and was generally approved. Both these proposals have been given effect to. Exchanges have been opened at a number of centres to provide employment to technical personnel.
General opinion at this meeting was also in favour of (1) a certain degree of continuity being maintained in the adjudication machinery, and (2) the whole policy regarding trade disputes being laid down de novo and a new Act being enacted in place of the existing Trade Disputes Act, 1929, encouraging internal conciliation. While proposals for fresh legislation are under consideration the Central Government have brought item
(1) to the notice of the Provincial Governments who have, as far as possible, maintained continuity. Government have under consideration proposals for fresh legislation on the question of trade disputes.
Bevin Training Scheme
Another question which arose out of this meeting was that organised labour should be associated with National Service Labour Tribunals for selecting Bevin trainees and that Tribunals should consult prominent trade Unions in their area at the time of selection of candidates. This method of selection is under consideration for selecting trainees. On the labour welfare side the committee’s