Government hikes minimum wages, but stir still on

The trade unions on Tuesday refused to call off their September 2 nationwide general strike despite the government agreeing to a 42 per cent hike in minimum wages to `350 per day. Rejecting the offer which they said was “completely inadequate” and a “mockery”, they said the strike will take place as planned, that threatens to bring the entire nation to a standstill with major services like banking, education and industries possibly paralysed.

“The government’s minimum wage announcement is completely inadequate. The strike stands and we demand that they enact a law to fix minimum (universal) wages,” said All-India Trade Union Congress general secretary Gurudas Dasgupta.

Earlier Tuesday, finance minister Arun Jaitley ann-ounced a slew of labour-friendly measures like hiking of minimum wages to Rs 350 a day for unskilled non-agricultural labour for “C” category areas in the Central sphere.

In what could be bonanza for government employees, besides increasing the minimum wage, the Centre decided to pay bonus for 2014-15 and 2015-16 to Central staff based on revised norms. This will have an annual financial implication of Rs1,920 crores. It also said that the amendment in the Payment of Bonus Act will be implemented strictly and it will support the unions’ cause in high courts and the Supreme Court.

Calculated monthly, it comes to Rs 9,100 minimum income (for 26 days), which is way below the unions’ demand of Rs 18,000.

Speaking to this newspaper, Citu general secretary Tapan Sen said the government’s offer was a mockery as states like Delhi and Karnataka give much more minimum wages than what has be-en promised by the Cent-re. Mr Sen said on August 31, all the unions will come out with a joint declaration, making it clear the strike will take place on September 2. Asked about the RSS-backed Bh-aratiya Mazdoor Sangh backing out from the proposed strike, a livid Mr Sen said it was never part of the strike and was always with the government over the issue.

Citu later described the government’s statement (through finance minister Arun Jaitley, who held a media briefing) that it had accepted the trade unions’ major dem-ands and hence they sho-uldn’t go in for the strike, as “nothing but a mocke-ry meted out to workers”.

“The statement of the finance minister that the government has accepted the recommendation of the Minimum Wage Advisory Committee is totally untrue. The committee met on August 30 at 3 pm and ended inconclusively while all workers’ representatives reiterated their demand of Rs 18,000. Such mis-statement by the government is a deliberate ploy to mislead and confuse the workers before the str-ike,” the statement said.

The government’s offer of a floor level minimum wage of Rs 350 per day (or Rs 9,100 per month, for 26 days) is a cruel joke by the government, making a posture of accepting the demands of workers. The trade unions reject such a mockery in the name of offer with the contempt it deserves,” the statement added.

Citu said the government’s announcement of sops was a “deceptive and dubious ploy”, and it should be combated by making the September 2 strike a massive success. “The finance minister’s statement clearly shows the government has not considered any of the demands in our 12-point charter. The unions have no other alternative but to fight for their rights,” Intuc vice-president Ashok Singh said.

The BMS, however, lauded the government’s offer and decided to abstain from the general strike on Friday.