People's Voice - August 1-15, 2008

Sixty years have passed since the Minimum Wages Act 1948 was passed. In these years the Indian government and bourgeoisie have succeeded in closing most of the government and organised public sector areas. According to the Ministry of Labour 94% of the country’s establishments are in the unorganized or informal sectors where this Act is not applicable.

In this connection the first meeting of the Central Advisory Board chaired by the Minister of Labour was held on 22 February in Delhi. Following demands related to amendments in the Act were raised in this meeting.

Presently Minimum Wages Act 1948 is applicable only in those establishments which are specified in the schedule. Amendment should be made to ensure workers in all types of establishments get minimum wages.
Many states do not revise the minimum wages for years together. It should be mandatory for the states to revise minimum wages at fixed intervals of time.
It should be made mandatory for all the state governments to provide social security to all the workers.
Minimum wages should be fixed on the basis of urban consumer expenditure.
Removal of any establishment from the scheduled list by states should be banned.
There is a provision in the Minimum Wages Act which allows the state to escape from fixing minimum wages for certain scheduled establishments which have more than 1000 workers. Amendment should be made to ensure that business enterprises with1000 or less workers should also be covered by minimum wages.
Presently minimum wages are revised/amended every five years. This should be changed to every two years.
Employer should give appointment letter besides maintaining labour book or giving labour slip.