The state labor minister Purnendu Basu has announced the new minimum wage for 31 sectors in mostly unorganised industries and warned that no dilution of these rates would be tolerated by the government. The government claimed to have revised the minimum wage upwards. But the minimum wage structure announced by the labor minister is no different from minimum wages announced by the Left Front government in 2010. On August 27, 2010 the then state government announced through a gazette notification a minimum wage structure for the same sectors and the wage rates announced there were no different from what the present labor minister has announced on Thursday.
AITUC leader Gurudas Dasgupta feels that by keeping the minimum wages in all these sectors pegged at the 2010 level, the state government has actually lowered the wages. “Since August 2010, the inflation has taken away a large portion of the wages of the workers. In other words, by keeping the minimum wages at the last year’s level, the government has lowered the minimum wage of the unorganised sector.” Moreover, he has doubts about the efficacy of this initiative. “How could the government ensure the proper implementation of the minimum wages in the industry? Does it have the enforcement mechanism to monitor and take punitive measures against the law evaders?” asks Dasgupta.
The sectors for which the new minimum wage will be applicable, includes construction industries, fisheries, tanneries, hosieries, clinical nursing homes, rice mills, ceramic, stone quarries, oil mills, handlooms, power looms, plywood, agriculture, bell metal and brass industries, silk printing etc. Minimum daily wages for most of the industries will range from Rs 162 to Rs 196 for the unskilled and skilled workers respectively. For the agricultural labors, the unskilled ones will be entitled to Rs 127 a day, if the landowner does not provide for the food. If food is provided, then the wage will come down to Rs 118. For the skilled labor, the minimum daily wage will be Rs 140 without food and Rs 131 with food. For those engaged in construction of roads, paints and chemical factories the minimum wage of the unskilled workers is fixed at Rs 162, for semi skilled Rs 178, skilled Rs 196 and for the highly skilled Rs 215.