Private employees, skilled, semi-skilled, unskilled workers seek Government of Telangana to come out with a decision to revise daily-wages, as it has been difficult enough for them to survive in a meagre pay, due to the inflation. The State Government, however, announced a pay hike for all the Government employees and teachers under the Pay Revision of Commission.
A vast majority of the technicians, helpers, working in different sectors complained that their problems were not being taken into consideration. They wanted the Government of Telangana to look into their daily-earning system.
“As per work, one can have his daily wage or monthly payment. There are workers/ helpers, who are still getting Rs 5-6 thousand per month for 12 hours. Vegetable vendors, Fruit sellers managed to earn Rs 400- Rs 500 daily for 10 to 12 hours. The maximum wage is Rs 15 thousand rupees for the sales man or helpers in the shops,” clarified, one of the employees, Syed Saddam from Laad Bazaar.
Mohammed Faisal, Advocate, Labour Law and Employees Rights Activist said that, majority of private employees and labourers in Telangana State belong to SCs, STs, OBCs and Minorities, whose financial state is extremely poor due to the ongoing inflation and other socio-economic issues.
“The revision of minimum wage payable to employees of private hospitals, Nursing homes, dispensaries, factories, shops, etc was revised during Andhra Pradesh, G.O. MS. No.68 Labour Employment Training and Factories (Lab-II) December, 8th 2011, The Andhra Pradesh Gazette Part-I Extraordinary published March, 19, 2012. Since the formation of Telangana State, the wage payable to employees in private sectors have not been revised,’’ said Mohammed Faisal, Advocate, Labour Law and Employees Rights Activist.
He further clarified that as per the labour laws, the Appropriate Government shall determine the minimum wages in respect of the employment. A preliminary notification was issued under G.O. RT No. 306 on July 4, 2018 and it was published under Ref. No. 237 on August 27, 2018 asking for comments or suggestions from the affected parties. However, since the publication of this notification, there has been no progress on the revision of wages.
“After the formation of Telangana State, the Government has increased the salaries of Government employees, but no initiatives or decisions were taken to fix the wages for the private employees and daily wagers across the State. It has been almost 10 years but the Telangana Government has yet to revise the minimum wages,’’added, Mohammed Faisal, Advocate, Labour Law and Employees Rights Activist.
Srinu and Tayyab, both of them work as painters said that their life is badly affected due to the inflation and they hardly get work. “First of all, we are not getting work regularly, as the people from other states, execute contacts with companies and engage their own people. Thus, our lives are being affected by low income and inflation,’’ Srinu and Tayyab told Voiceup Media.