- The Union Cabinet has approved the Code on Wages Bill which seeks to subsume existing laws related to workers’ remuneration.
- The Code on Wages is one of the four codes that would subsume 44 labour laws.The four codes will deal with (a)wages (b)social security, (c)industrial safety and welfare and (d)industrial relations.
- The Code on Wages bill will replace the (a)Payment of Wages Act, 1936, (b)Minimum Wages Act,1948 (c)Payment of Bonus Act,1965 and the (d)Equal Remuneration Act,1976.
- The bill provides that the Central Government will fix minimum wages for certain sectors including railways and mines while the states would be free to set minimum wages for other category of employment.
- The code also provides for setting up of a national minimum wage.The Central Government can set a separate minimum wage for different regions or states. The draft law also says that the minimum wage would be revised every five years.
