Parliament has passed the Code on Wages Bill, 2019 with Rajya Sabha approving it today.  The bill was passed with 85 members voting in its support while eight against it. The Lok Sabha has already approved it. The Code universalises the provisions of minimum wages and timely payment of wages to all employees irrespective of the sector and wage ceiling. <br />'' <br />'' At present, the provisions of both Minimum Wages Act and Payment of Wages Act apply on workers below a particular wage ceiling working in Scheduled Employments only. It has been ensured in the bill that employees getting monthly salary will get the salary by 7th of next month, those working on weekly basis will get the salary on last day of the week and daily wagers should get it on the same day. <br />'' <br />'' Under the Code, the tripartite committee comprising representatives of trade unions, employers and state governments would fix a floor wage for workers throughout the country and no state government can fix the minimum wage below it.  At present there are 12 definitions of wages in the different Labour Laws leading to litigation besides difficulty in its implementation. <br />'' <br />'' The definition has been simplified in the Bill and is expected to reduce litigation and also reduce compliance cost for employers. The Bill will subsume four labour laws which are Minimum Wages Act, Payment of Wages Act, Payment of Bonus Act and Equal Remuneration Act. <br />'' <br />'' Speaking on bill, Labour and Employment Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar said that the government has accepted 17 out of the 24 recommendations made by the Standing Committee which had scrutinised a similar bill introduced in the previous Lok Sabha. He said, the Bill will effectively address the problems relating to delay in payments of wages whether on monthly, weekly or daily basis. <br />'' <br />'' He said, 50 crore workers working in organised and unorganised sector will be benefitted through this initiative. He said the government has not so far fixed the minimum wages and it will be fixed by tripartite committee.<br />'' <br />'' Participating in the discussion, Madhusudan Mistry of Congress expressed disappointment on some provisions of the bill saying that the intake of calories has not been mentioned in the legislation. Bhupender Yadav of BJP supported the bill and termed it as major reform in the country. Members from other political parties also spoke on the Bill<br />''