The Federation of Medical and Sales Representatives' Association of India (FMRAI) has approached the Central Government alleging violation of Sales Promotion Employees (SPE) Act, 1976, by leading pharmaceutical companies in the country.

The Federation has submitted a memorandum to the Union Labour minister, with a list of 81 major pharmaceutical companies in the country allegedly violating the SPE Act. The Federation and its state units have also submitted the list of pharma companies to the labour ministers of relevant states.

The memorandum to the Union Labour Minister alleges that the organised pharmaceutical companies, which have a market all over the country, including Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals Inc., Pfizer Ltd., Cadila Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd., Lupin Pharmaceuticals, Glaxo SmithKline Pharma Ltd., Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd., AstraZeneca International, Biochem, Dabur India Ltd., Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, Himalaya Healthcare, JB Chemicals, Merck India, Novartis, GRL, Wockhardt Pharmaceuticals, FDC, Abbott Pharmaceuticals, Biological Evans, Alkem Lab, Kopran Lab, Meyer Organics, RPG Life Science, TTK Pharma Ltd., Sun Pharma, Aglomed Ltd., Elder Pharma, Mcleods, Bombay Tablets Manufacturing Company Ltd., Drakt International, Life Pharma Pvt. Ltd., etc., are violating the SPE Act without recognising the right of medical representatives.

The Federation has also included the signature of almost all the medical representatives, of the respective companies, from all parts of the country along with the list as evidence. The list of companies having market in a few states has been collected by the state units and has been submitted to the labour ministers of the states in which the company is based on. Most of the companies were based in Mumbai, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai according to the sources.

The Tamil Nadu Medical and Sales Representatives Association (TNMSRA) has made a list of 91 companies, which are marketing in the state and neighbouring states and have submitted a petition to the State Labour Minister. The association expressed its discontent over the negligence of the government in enforcing laws like minimum wages for the medical sales representatives.

"None of the pharmaceuticals companies in Tamil Nadu abides by the minimum wages norms for medical representatives due to the negligence of the state labour department. The association has already filed many petitions on violation of Sales Promotion Employees (SPE) Act 1976," K.Natarajan, president, TNMSRA told Pharmabiz.

He said that the statutory format for appointment of employees is not being followed by the companies at present. The companies are supposed to maintain a register with details of every employee, which should be signed by him periodically. The employees should also have a right of adequate leave options, with casual leave for 15 days, privilege leave for 30 days and medical leave for one out of 18 days in the total service period.

"The companies are issuing letters to the employees violating all these rights, which are basic needs of every employee," said Natarajan.

The FMRAI, representing the employees of the Indian pharmaceutical sector with about 65,000 members all over the country, is carrying out its agitation for enforcement of SPE Act for the past several years. The federation will discuss further plans for the enforcement in the coming general council meeting from February 8 to 10, said the sources.