Authors : Shreshth Chhabra, Sachin Mittal, Vivek S. Kushwah
DOI : 10.18231/2394-2770.2018.0013
Volume : 5
Issue : 1
Year : 0
Page No : 69-75
In classical economics, labour is one of the three factors of production, along with capital and land. The word welfare has historically been related to happiness and prosperity. Labour welfare implies the adoption of measures to promote the physical, social, psychological and general well-being of the working population. Welfare work in any industry aims, or should aim, at improving the working and living conditions of workers and their families. Adequate levels of earnings, safe and humane conditions of work and access to some minimum social security benefits are the major qualitative dimensions of employment which enhance quality of life of workers and their productivity.
Constitution of India, national and internal labour bodies, labour laws, especially the factories act, 1948 and contract labour (Regulation and abolition) Act, 1970 strive to make the working conditions more humane with a view to make workers not only satisfied but also productive. The paper studies the statutory welfare facilities and the provision of leaves as enumerated under Factories Act and contract labour act and social security provisions under different acts. The study was conducted in engineering companies to know the perception of workers about the different dimensions of welfare i.e. statutory welfare measures, social security measures and leaves provided and also to know the impact of worker’s status (permanent/contractual) on such measures. The sample comprised of 97 workers employed with different engineering companies. These companies can be categorised as light and heavy engineering companies employing varying strength of workers. The results indicated that though significant workers were satisfied with the welfare facilities, some workers perceive welfare facilities to be inadequate and there is impact of worker’s status on the perception of workers.
Keywords: Labour, Welfare, Engineering, Permanent worker, Contractual worker.