India : ‘Equal pay for women workers'
For most of his 12 hours in “office,” 55-year old Anjani Verma is atop one electricity pole or another in Ghaziabad.
The scorching heat and the risky job, where the safety
kit is a luxury given to him only at the time of inspections, has no impact on his way of working. Despite all this, Mr. Verma is compelled to pull a rickshaw after work to earn a few extra bucks.
No wonder, his shout for increasing the minimum wages of workers was one of the loudest during the strike held at Sahibabad industrial area. “I have five children. Only I know how I pay for their education despite a monthly salary of Rs.6,000. My eldest daughter is 18-year-old. I feel ashamed that even now I have to resort to pulling a rickshaw in order to make ends meet,” he said.
Factory workers
The protesters, most of whom were factory workers, demanded that the minimum wage be increased to Rs.20,000. Leading the protest in Ghaziabad was Brijesh, the head of Centre for Indian Trade Unions’ (CITU) sub-committee in Sahibabad.
“Apart from minimum wages, we demand equal pay for equal work by women workers. Besides, contractual workers also need to be made permanent,” he added.
At Noida, workers demanded that minimum wages be made uniform across Delhi-NCR.
“Be it Delhi, Noida or Gurgaon, inflation is same in across NCR. When the Arvind Kejriwal government can increase the minimum pay to Rs.14,000, why can’t the Uttar Pradesh and Haryana governments follow suit?” said Jayanti Devi, a security guard at Noida’s Great India Place mall who earns Rs.8,000 a month.
Protests were held in Noida’s Sectors 2, 3, 4, 5, 27, 62 and 63. At Noida Sector 63, the police had to use force to control the protests early in the morning, after which peaceful protests continued.
Among other demands, the workers also demanded their share of bonus on their old salaries and an increase in gratuity. They also sought pension for all workers.
Most protesters demanded that
the minimum wage be increased to Rs.20,000