Behind Noida’s unrest: A tale of ‘long delayed’ wage revision

Trade unions like CITU and Hind Mazdoor Sabha, and the workers, pointed out that formal revisions of basic wages have been delayed since 2014.

For workers protesting at factories in Noida and trade unions, the minimum wage revision announced by a Uttar Pradesh government committee is overdue and inadequate, by at least a decade and ₹10,000, respectively.

Personnel deployed as police commissioner of Gautam Buddh Nagar Lakshmi Singh visits Sector 80 amid ongoing workers’ protest, in Noida on Tuesday. (PTI)

Skilled workers in Gautam Buddha Nagar and Ghaziabad will see monthly wages rise from ₹13,940 to ₹16,868 under the revised interim wage structure, announced Monday night and effective April 1. Semi-skilled and unskilled workers will earn around ₹15,059 and ₹13,690 respectively.

The minimum wage structure is applicable to both workers hired directly by companies covered under the factories Act and also those hired through a contract agency.

Workers in other parts of the state will get less. The state has been trifurcated into regions with varying wage slabs: the highest for Noida/Ghaziabad, a middle tier for municipal corporations, and a lower tier for the rest of the 75 districts of the state.

Trade unions like CITU and Hind Mazdoor Sabha, and the workers, pointed out that formal revisions of basic wages have been delayed since 2014. They also said the new rates still significantly trail those in neighboring Delhi ( ₹22,411 for skilled) and Haryana ( ₹18,500 for skilled).

“The government is saying that they increased salaries by ₹1,000 or ₹2,000, but is this sufficient? At least, we should get a minimum salary of ₹20,000 to ₹25,000 to survive with our families in Noida,” said Anwar, who makes T-shirts.

“Announcing a wage hike against the backdrop of recent protests is merely an eyewash as the minimum wage revision has not been done for more than a decade,” said Uma Shankar Mishra, general secretary of the Hind Mazdoor Sabha in UP.

Trifercation of the state to decide the wages puts workers across major cities like Kanpur, Agra, Lucknow, Varanasi, and elsewhere at a disadvantage, Mishra said, adding that it’s high time a minimum wage committee is constituted to look into the demands of the workers.

State general secretary of Center for Trade Unions (CITU), Premnath Rai, demanded a minimum wage of ₹26,000 per month, keeping in mind the long-delayed revision and the increase in the cost of living. He accused the state government of ignoring workers’ rights in its eagerness to woo the industry. He said powers of the labour department were diluted in favour of the industry, with provisions such as a self-inspection policy to check if the factories were up to code.

The last minimum wage revision in 2014 had fixed basic pay at ₹5,750 per month for unskilled worker, ₹6,325 per month for the semi-skilled worker and ₹7,085 per month for the skilled employee. This, combined with the dearness allowance rates revised from time to time has led a minimum wage of ₹11,313 per month for the unskilled worker, ₹12,445 per month for the semi skilled worker and ₹13,940 per month for the skilled employee, until Monday’s hike.

Workers, who continued their protest on Tuesday, also said that they have not received any official notice of a wage hike. UP’s principal secretary (labour) Shanmuga Sundaram said the notification for the interim minimum wage structure will be issued by Wednesday.

Deepak Kumar, UP infrastructure and industrial development commissioner (IIDC), who is the head of the committee that increased the minimum wage, said the wages had been hiked by 21%, keeping the interest of both the workers and the factory owners, as well as the cost of living in the cities, in mind.

Meanwhile, UP’s labour minister Anil Rajbhar appealed to the workers not to fall prey to any misleading information or provocation, assuring them that the government is ready to listen to every concern.

He, however, also said that “the incident appears to have been carried out with the intention of disrupting the development and law and order of the state”.

Chief minister Yogi Adityanath also assured protesters that the government stands with them and urged them to recall how his government took care of them during the Covid-19 pandemic. He asked them to be wary of those inciting unrest.