Report of the Royal Commission on Labour in India

Bibliographic data

Monograph

Identifikator:: 1850495947

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-233603

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Report of the Royal Commission on Labour in India

Place of publication:: London

Publisher:: His Majesty's Stationery Off.

Year of publication:: 1931

Scope:: xviii, 580 S.; graph. Darst., Kt.

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

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Chapter

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Chapter XII. - The income of the industrial worker

Collection:: Economics Books

THE INCOME OF THE INDUSTRIAL WORKER. 219 bigger premium on efficiency. But the wider resort to dismissal and to the threat of dismissal which would follow the abolition of fines might result in greater hardship and tend to aggravate the workers’ sense of insecurity. It would also give rise to more resentment. While, therefore, we recognise the objections to fines and consider that employers should do their utmost to reduce them to a minimum, we do not recommend their abolition by law. In the case of children, however, on account of their helplessness, inexperience and low scale of wages, we recommend that fining should be prohibited. In the case of adult workers we recommend the regulation of fines, and proceed to show how this can be most effectively accomplished. Regulation of Fines. The object of regulation should be to prevent excessive and arbitrary fines. In our opinion, legislation should be based on four broad principles. In the first place, the payment of a fine should not be spread over too long a period, and we recommend that the maximum period should be one month from the date on which the fine was imposed. Secondly, we consider that fines should not constitute more than a fixed amount out of the worker's wage. As regards the limit, we observe that the draft standing order, prepared by the Bombay Millowners’ Association and endorsed by the Fawcett Committee, fixed the limit at two per cent of a worker’s monthly wages. We would prefer, however, a method of calculation which is more easily understood by the worker, and we recommend that the maximum amount deducted in fines should not in any month exceed half an anna in the rupee of the worker's earnings. The payment of wages by other periods than a month may necessitate special provisions, but the same limit should be imposed. The third principle is in regard to the disposal of fines. A number of employers accept no benefit from this source and apply the proceeds to welfare work in various forms. It is particularly important that the fine should in no case benefit the individual responsible for imposing it. ‘We recommend that the sums received from fines should be credited to a purpose beneficial to the employees as a whole and ap- Proved by some recognised authority. In the fourth place, in order to give workers some security against arbitrary fines, employers should be re- quired to specify the acts or omissions in respect of which a fine may be imposed. These should be embodied in notices posted where they can be easily seen by the workers, and fines inflicted for any act or omission which is not specified in the notice should be illegal. Deductions for Damage or Loss. Deductions on account of damage differ from fines in that the employer has sustained some definite loss which is attributed to the care- lessness or negligence of the worker. Such deductions do not always repre- sent the full value of the loss incurred and the main purpose, as in the Case of fines, is the maintenance of discipline. The worker’s grievance is that both the amount of the damage and the extent of his personal respon- sibility are left to the determination of the employer. In India the com- monest types of deductions under this category are the debits made on

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