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To give the private security sector a boost, industry chamber FICCI has urged the Labour Ministry to classify private security guards as skilled workers.
“Despite performing work that requires special skills and training, private security guards continue to languish on minimum wages as unskilled workers,” the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) said in a release.
At present, the private security sector operates in over 550 districts, directly employing over 50 lakh individuals with an approximate turnover of Rs 20,000 crore.
“This makes the private security industry amongst one of the largest employment generating sectors in the country,” it said.
The chamber said security guards were involved in highly skilled jobs such as access control using baggage X-ray machines and metal detection equipment at five-star hotels or guarding industrial complexes through use of CCTV surveillance systems or managing entry/exit of thousands of workers and vehicles outside IT parks or managing complex functions at private ports and airports.
“The model rules framed under the Private Security Agency Regulation Act 2005, the nodal Act for the industry, clearly defines the eligibility criteria for private security guards and supervisors,” the chamber said, adding that the Act clearly stipulated a minimum of 160 hours of training for private security guards, describing them as trained workers.
Despite performing highly skilled functions, private security guards continue to be categorised as ‘unskilled workers’ and draw wages in line with the State minimum wages for the ‘unskilled category’.
“Even the Central Minimum Wages notification No. SO 2232 (E) & 2233 dated 18.09.2008, private security guards are categorised as semi-skilled workers,” it says, adding that this was “not only gross injustice to over 50 lakh-plus workers employed in the sector but also in direct contravention to the laws of the land and directives of the Supreme Court of India.”
FICCI has requested the Government to form a special ‘task force’ under the Ministry of Labour, with representation from the industry, to look into the issues affecting the private security workers.
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