Labour minister puts onus of workers’ troubles on UPA

In a bid to deter trade unions from going on an indefinite nationwide strike from Friday, the Centre on Thursday sought to put the onus of issues faced by workers on the previous UPA government and said that the present regime had done more for them than had been done in the past 45 years.

“From 2004 to 2014, they (the UPA government) were unable to take the issue seriously. But it was the NDA that, in the last two years, has taken pro-worker decisions. More decisions have been taken in two years than in the past 45 years,” Union labour minister Bandaru Dattatreya said while addressing reporters in the city.

“We are focused on the development of working conditions, health wages, job security and social security. In totality, the government is in a positive mode and doesn’t want a confrontation with labour unions. We need their cooperation and support,” he said.

“We’ve had a discussion with trade unions and we want harmonious working conditions, and now it is up to their wisdom to continue with the strike or not,” the minister added.

Mr Dattatreya said that the government would soon announce minimum wages for agricultural workers.

“We have raised the wages of non-agricultural workers to Rs 350 from Rs 246. These wages were not revised since 2005. We are working on a similar pattern for agricultural workers as well. We will soon revise their minimum wages,” he said.

The minister said that after conducting a review of his department, he had found that a “misinformation campaign” was currently underway.

“I had come to Mumbai to take a review of my department. Keeping the department in tandem with technology, we want to reach out to all workers through the mode of SMS. All major demands to which the government has agreed will be sent to workers on their cell phones. We will also tell establishments to display the same on their notice boards,” he stressed.