New Delhi: Government on September 7 released the long-awaited report of the second Labour Commission, which recommended, among other things, steps to check multiplicity of trade unions, reduction in the number of holidays and empowering employers to lay-off and retrench without prior permission.

The Commission, headed by Virendra Verma, also sought a comprehensive legislation relating to working conditions at workplaces and another for the unorganised sector, besides asking the Centre to notify a national floor level minimum wage, giving the state governments powers to fix the minimum wage which should not be below the national level.

Releasing the voluminous two-part report, Labour Minister Saheb Singh Verma said he would hold discussions with trade unions, employers' organisations, political parties and others to evolve a consensus on the recommendations.

A comprehensive legislation on labour reforms is likely to be tabled in Parliament in the winter session to consolidate the 50-odd laws relating to labour welfare and Rights, Verma said.

A two-day meeting of Indian Labour Conference, to be attended by state Labour Ministers, employees' and employers' organisations, would be held in New Delhi on September 28-29 to discuss the full recommendations of the Labour panel.

The Commission, which was set up in October 1999, submitted the 1751-page report to the government in June 2002.

PTI