As per the Kolkata Gazette issued on 27 August 2010 and 22 September 2010, the Government of West Bengal has proposed a new set of minimum wages for workers in 31 trades. Proposals for another 27 trades are under consideration. The lowest amongst these wages is Rs. 127 per day (without food) for so called “unskilled” agricultural workers, while the highest is Rs. 5,614 per month or Rs.215 per day for “highly skilled” drivers and clerks. However, by our calculations (given at the end of the note), using the 15 ILC norms and Supreme Court orders, the minimum wage cannot be less than Rs 248.50 per day for any trade.
This issue was brought up during a recent deputation on 4 February 2011 to the Joint Labour Commissioner in charge of Minimum Wage Fixation. Much to our amazement, he was not able to give the rationale on which minimum wages had been fixed by the State Government. Even more surprisingly he refused to share documents that showed how the Government was calculating minimum wages.
We demand that the Government should make Rs.248.50 the floor level wage (at 2010 prices). No wage less than this should be declared for any trade. Wherever it is found that employers (such as small and marginal farmers, small factory owners or small shop keepers) are not in a position to pay such wages, the Government must provide a wage subsidy for them.
This is also in consonance with the policy of the West Bengal Government. In fact, the Labour Minister Mr Anadi Sahu at the ILC meeting on 23 and 24 Nov 2010 at Delhi “urged the Central Government to declare a floor level minimum wage in all economic activities irrespective of whether such employment is covered in the schedule of the Minimum Wages Act or not.”[1]
The West Bengal Government has been violating the Minimum Wages Act itself in many ways i.e. by paying less than its own declared minimum wage itself to NREGS workers and to contract workers in the Health and PHE Department. For example, NREGS workers were paid Rs.81 during most of 2009, when the agricultural minimum wage (which has to be statutorily paid in NREGS works as per the NREG Act 2005) was Rs.87.50.
The Labour Department has taken very little effort to vacate stay orders on revision of minimum wages brought on by employers’ associations (such as the Brick Field Owners Association) in the Kolkata High Court. As a result, minimum wages in some trades have not been revised for 8-10 years.
Established unions in the presence of Labour Department officials, and with their connivance sign agreements with employer associations accepting less than the minimum wage.
Minimum wage enforcement is practically absent. Even the low and sub-human wages set by the Government of West Bengal are not enforced. The problems are many - inspectors who go to factories, take bribes from owners and return without taking any action; minimum wage inspectors who are becoming fewer in number; minimum wage inspectors who do everything – gathering data for surveys and the Census, correction of the BPL List and voters’ list - except enforcement of minimum wages; assistant labour commissioners who have no enforcement powers; and, a huge decline in cases of punishment for non-payment of minimum wages.
Workers face violent attacks from employers when they demand minimum wages. The administration and police support them in such acts, making it impossible for workers to organize for minimum wages.
The Government of West Bengal has shifted its focus away from minimum wage enforcement. The Labour Department itself had been marginalised, as is clear from the decline in staff in the department and the sorry state of the Joint Labour Commissioner’s office at 6 Church Lane. Within the Department’s functioning, the enforcement of minimum wages is not seen as an important function. Instead, minimum wage inspectors and the other staff of the department are kept occupied in enlisting people for various Government aided lollipops of welfare schemes. Even here the performance is pathetic - in the 10 years since the State Assisted Scheme of Provident Fund for Un-organised Workers (SASPFUW) had been initiated, the JLC informed us that they had enlisted 23 lakhs of unorganised sector workers in West Bengal. This is less than 8% of the 2.9 crores unorganised sector workers in the state (these are 2004-05 figures and numbers have increased since then).[2] The Joint Labour Commissioner admitted this to us during our discussion with him on 4 February 2011.
In the above circumstances we demand:
- Fixing of a floor-level minimum wage of Rs.248.50 (at 2010 prices), as per the 15th ILC norms and Supreme Court orders, so that the minimum wage in all trades is above this.
- Provision of a wage subsidy for all small employers who find it economically unfeasible to pay such wages.
- Floor level minimum wages must be paid to NREGS workers, and the Government must not freeze the NREGS real wage at Rs.100.
- Transparency and public debate must precede the fixation of minimum wage, with open access to all documents and calculations by the Government.
- In calculating of minimum wages, each child must be treated as a single unit and the norm of treating two children as one unit must be stopped.
- Wages must be indexed to inflation and revised every 6 months.
- Strict enforcement of the Minimum Wages Act, with sufficient numbers of Minimum Wage Inspectors and exemplary punishment for Labour Department staff who do not enforce the Act.
- Cancellation of employers’ licenses, punishment of employers through jailing, fines etc. in case of violation of Minimum Wages Act.
- Revamping the dispute resolution systems in order to ensure speedy resolution of employer- worker disputes.
- Strict action against employers and their goons who attack workers organizing for minimum wages.
Asanghathit Kshetra Shramik Sangrami Manch has based its minimum wage calculations on the universally accepted 15th Indian Labour Conference norms and Supreme Court orders that state a family unit consists of 2 adults and 2 children; each adult must have a balance diet with 2700 calories per day and each person 18 yards of cloth per year; each family will spend 20% of its wage on fuel, electricity etc. and 25% on health education and entertainment; and each family must be given rent for housing in keeping with Government’s minimum housing allowance . Food requirements per adult as are as follows at current prices. (October 2010)
Item | Quantity (gm) | Calorie (100 gm) | Calorie value | Cost per kg | Total cost |
Grains (Rice, Wheat) | 397 | 345 | 1370 | 18 | 7.15 |
Dal | 85.2 | 343 | 292 | 55 | 8.69 |
Greeneries | 113.8 | 51 | 58 | 10 | 1.13 |
Potato | 85.2 | 50 | 43 | 15 | 1.28 |
Other vegetables | 85.2 | 32 | 27 | 12 | 1.02 |
Fruits | 85.2 | 59 | 50 | 50 | 8.26 |
Milk | 200 | 67 | 134 | 22 (per litre) | 8.8 |
Oil &Ghee | 40 | 900 | 360 | 65 | 2.6 |
Sugar | 56.68 | 398 | 226 | 30 | 1.7 |
Fish &Meat | 85.2 | 105 | 89 | 120 | 10.22 |
Half egg | 28.25 | 173 | 49 | 3.5 | 1.75 |
Total | 2698 | 40.2 |
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