Port Blair, Mar 14: Centre of Indian Trade Unions has demanded immediate revision of the minimum wages for the schedule employment in Andaman & Nicobar Islands. In a letter sent to the Lt. Governor, A & N Islands, B. Chandrachoodan, General Secretary of the CITUI, A & N State Committee, while drawing the attention of the Lt. Governor towards the series of letters sent to him by the CITU A & N State Committee, said that the minimum wages was last revised in these islands with effect from 1st March, 2009 and fixed Rs. 156/- per day (for unskilled mazdoors) and was, thus, due for another revision in 2014 as per the Minimum Wages Act, 1948. The minimum wages, with the VDA added to it, now stands at Rs. 297/- per day.
While forwarding a copy of the Notificated dated 3rd March, 2017 issued by the Govt. of National Capital Territory of Delhi revising the minimum wages of schedule employment, Chandrachoodan informed the Lt. Governor that the rates were last revised in Delhi with effect from 26th July, 2011. As per the new rates, the unskilled mazdoors in Delhi will get Rs. 513/- per day.
CITU complained to the Lt. Governor that the CITU has been requesting the Administration for the last three years to appont a Committee to recommend the new rates for revision, but no action has been taken by the Administration in this regard, thereby depriving the poor workers of their rightful benefit of statutory wage revision. To add insult to injury, the Administration has been portraying the adjustment/adding of Variable Dearness Allowance every six months as “increase of minimum wages” and wide publicity was being given in the media as if the minimum wages has been revised/increased, CITU told the Lt. Governor. CITU has been objecting to this unjustified and illegal action on the part of the Labour Department.
CITU told the Lt. Governor that there is no justification whatsoever for not revising the minimum wages for schedule employment as Section 3 (1) (b) of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 cast upon the Lt. Governor a duty to revise the minimum wages after every five years on the basis of the recommendations of the Committee set up for the purpose. CITU emphatically told the Lt. Governor that any violation of the said Section in a Union Territory directly administered by the Govt. of India is to be viewed seriously and action need to be taken against the officials concerned who failed to take such steps as per the statute. CITU told the Lt. Governor that it firmly believe that the Labour Department is delaying the revision of minimum wages in order to favour the private sector.
B. Chandrachoodan urged upon the Lt. Governorto go through the letters sent to him by the CITU personally and issue necessary directions to the Labour Department to take necessary steps to enhance the minimum wages in the islands with retrospective effect from 1st March, 2014 as the workers are facing financial hardship to pull on the days with the meager wages of Rs. 156/- plus VDA (Rs. 297) during these hard days when prices are increasing unchecked day-by-day.
In the meantime, the said matter was discucssed in a meeting of the CITU A & N State Secretariat held on 11.03.2017 and the meeting through a resolution urged upon the Lt. Governor to enhance the minimum wages to Rs. 700/- per day for unskilled workers in view of the fact that the unskilled workers of Delhi is getting Rs. 513/- per day and considering the high cost of living prevailing in the islands the minimum wages should not be less than Rs. 700/- for unskilled workers in Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
