They want minimum wages notified
Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on 19 June 2018 directed officials to set up a committee involving Labour Department
officials, textile manufacturers, Central trade unions, and garment
workers to study the long-pending issues plaguing garment workers,
including notification of minimum wages.
At a meeting with
representatives of Garment and Textile Workers’ Union and All India
Trade Union Congress (AITUC) and Textile Manufacturers, the Chief
Minister said the committee should come out with its report in a
time-bound manner so that minimum wages of garment workers could be
notified by this year-end.
Draft notification
Garment
workers have been demanding that the new government implement the
revision of minimum wages that the erstwhile Siddaramaiah-led government
attempted by issuing a draft notification in February 2018, but
withdrew it in March 2018. The industry employs around 4.5 lakh people
in the State, mostly women, with nearly 3.5 lakh workers in Bengaluru
alone.
The Labour Department had issued the draft notification on
February 22, 2018, proposing to double the minimum wages in the
tailoring industry. But garment workers’ hopes were dashed when the
department issued an order withdrawing the draft notification.
The department said the industry management had objected to the revision on the grounds that minimum wages in Karnataka were
higher than that in other States and doubling it would have an adverse
impact on an industry that is already facing tough international
competition.
In meeting, the Chief Minister said it is
not possible to restore the withdrawn notification, and assured us that
based on the new committee’s report, minimum wages will be notified by
this year-end,” said a member of AITUC who attended the meeting.
Content Credit - The Hindu
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