Fernandes apologises for his remark

Under criticism from various quarters over his ‘warning’ remarks to managements of industries, Minister for Labour and Employment Oscar Fernanades turned around and came in support of the industry, reports Prasad Nichenametla.

Under criticism from various quarters over his ‘warning’ remarks to managements of industries, Minister for Labour and Employment Oscar Fernanades turned around and came in support of the industry on Wednesday.

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“Our industries are in a progressive path. Lay offs are necessitated when there is no business and strikes are evident sometimes. What I want is the peaceful environment in our industries to continue with workers also kept satisfied,” he told HT.

Though the Minister stated his statements were misinterpreted, he apologised for the overall remarks. “I am sorry if what I said has hurt anyone. I was only talking about the particular incident and never connected it to a larger context. I repeat that there is no justification for such kind of incidents,” Fernandes said.

On Tuesday, the minister had said, “Managements should perceive the incident as a warning and respond with compassion to worker’s problems.”

Pulling back his comments on industry, the minster went after the Public Sector Units today. “Even when they are in a position to employ people in regular jobs, some PSUs are moving towards contract labour. There is a wide disparity evident in remuneration of workers within an organisation because of this,” he said.

Fernanades also said that he took up NOIDA incident with the Uttar Pradesh State government. The Ministry for Labour and Employment has also asked the UP government to submit a report over the entire incident.