Trade unions to give ultimatum to govt

Will declare the course of action soon on four-point demands

Central trade unions have decided to give an ultimatum to the government and declare the course of action soon on their four-point demands.

The government had set up a group of four ministers led by Defence Minister A K Antony to discuss workers' demands with the united front of trade unions, which included the Congress-affiliated Indian National Trade Union Congress. The group, which includes Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, and the then labour minister Mallikarjun Kharge, held talks with the unions once in May and had sought a month's time to consider their demands - common minimum wage of Rs 10,000, pension of Rs 3,000, increase a month in the gratuity limit and price control.

The one-month period lapsed on June 18, prompting the trade unions to consider their next course of action.The unions have been holding a united front for the past two years and had recently held a two-day strike. Following this, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had set up the ministers' committee to look into their demands."We would be meeting new Labour Minister Sis Ram Ola, who is also a member of the committee," Baij Nath Rai, general secretary, Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, told Business Standard. "We will give an ultimatum to the government at our convention on August 6 in Delhi." Rai said the government could provide for a minimum wage of Rs 10,000 either through a notification or a new law. "We were told the government was ready with a Bill. But we haven't heard from the government, though it has been more than a month,'' he added.

The government is ready with Bills on providing equal wages to contract workers, on a national common minimum wage, and has been working towards a minimum pension of Rs 1,000 (and not Rs 3,000 as demanded by unions) to pensioners under the Employees' Provident Fund. A broad assurance on some of this came from the prime minister while addressing the Indian Labour Conference in May this year. He said the government was considering fixing a national floor-level minimum wage and provision of minimum pension of Rs 1,000 a month under the Employees' Pension Scheme.