Page 70 - Labor

CITU to stage 'jail bharo' protest in Mumbai on August 9

CPI-affiliated CITU and various rights bodies will organise a 'Jail Bharo' (court arrest) protest in Mumbai on Thursday against the "anti-worker" and "anti-farmer" policies of the Narendra Modi government. Members of various organisations will take out a march from Churchgate railway station to Hutatma Chowk in south Mumbai to mark the Quit India Day, CPI (M) Central Committee member Mahendra Singh told reporters today. He said the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), All-India Agricultural Workers' Union (AIAWU), All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) and the members of All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA)--the women's wing of the CPI (M)--will participate in the protest. "Modi government has been pursuing anti-worker and anti-employee policies since the last four years. These policies are against the interests of poor sections like hawkers, construction workers, aanganwadi workers and employees working in organised and unorganised sectors," he said. Singh said a ...

Talks on tea workers' wage fail, three-day strike to continue

A meeting to find a solution to the impasse over raising the minimum wage of tea garden workers in north Bengal remained inconclusive today. A three-day strike called by a joint forum of tea garden workers, demanding a hike in the minimum wage, would continue, as the meeting at Siliguri failed to reach a consensus, convenor of the forum Ziaur Alam said. The strike in 153 gardens of Dooars region and 48 gardens in Terai region started from today. Twenty-three labour unions of the 27 unions under the forum are supporting the protest, he said. "The strike would continue for two more days, as the meeting was inconclusive in the absence of the tea garden owners," Alam said. He said another meeting over the issue will be held on August 13. West Bengal Joint Labour Commissioner Chandan Dasgupta said talks were peaceful at the meeting, but there was no consensus on increasing the minimum wage of tea garden workers. Meanwhile, Secretary General of the Tea Association of India, P

Shahid Ashraf takes charge as VC Jamia Milia Islamia

Pro-Vice Chancellor of Jamia Milia Islamia (JMI) Shahid Ashraf on Tuesday took charge as the Vice Chancellor (VC), replacing Talat Ahmad, an official statement said.

Higher pay to nurses will make business unviable: Private hospitals to HC

Private hospitals and nursing homes today opposed in the Delhi High Court an AAP government order directing them to comply with an expert panel's recommendation to pay minimum wage of Rs 20,000 to nurses, saying it would "render their business unviable". The petition, by an association representing health care providers in the country, came up for hearing before a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar which had recently said that healthcare "has become lucrative business". The court had made the observation while hearing a PIL alleging that nurses were being financially exploited in private hospitals and nursing homes in the national capital. Today, the court could not take up the association's plea due to paucity of time and listed it for hearing on August 10. The association has contended that the June 25 order by the Delhi government's Directorate General of Health Services, under the garb of seeking compliance with the expert committee's ...

Transport strike disrupts normal life in Kerala, Haryana

People commuting via public transport in Kerala and Haryana are hassled by the day-long strike of the transport unions on Tuesday over several issues, including the proposed Road Safety and Transport Bill."We are missing out on our studies due to this strike as there is no other mode of transport available," said a college student from Haryana's Panchkula district.Not just students, but working professionals too are facing problems in commuting. "Due to the strike, I have come to office by taking a lift. Now I don't know how I will go back home in the evening," said a local in Haryana.The Haryana Roadways State Transport is observing a one-day strike against the proposed Road Safety and Transport Bill and the state government's decision to include private buses in its fleet."The state government wants to include private buses in Haryana Roadways which is completely unfair. Also, we are opposing the Road Safety and Transport Bill," a union leader told ANI.The situation was similar in ..

UAE gives exit clearance to Indian woman falsely declared absconder by employer

An Indian woman who was stranded in the UAE for four months after being falsely declared an absconder by her former employer finally received an exit clearance from the authorities, which also refunded her Dh500 (Rs 9,351) absconder fee, according to a media report. Bengaluru resident Geeta Krishnamurthy had come to the UAE on an employment visa in 2015 to work as an administrative executive in an IT firm. In January 2017, she went to India on vacation. While she was on her vacation, the company closed down due to which she didn't return to the UAE, the Gulf News reported yesterday. In March this year, Krishnamurthy went to the UAE mission in India, got her employment visa cancelled and came to the UAE on a one-month visit visa to search for a job. After unable to find a job, she decided to return to India on a turnaround visa' that enables expatriates to exit UAE's borders and re-enter the region on a renewed visit visa. However, she was stopped at the Dubai airport on the ground ...

Sena slams Modi govt over unemployment

The Shiv Sena today hit out at the Modi government saying the ruling BJP had given a pre-poll promise of creating one crore jobs every year, but in reality the number of unemployed people was growing by the day. Referring to Congress chief Rahul Gandhi's swipe at the Centre over Union minister Nitin Gadkari's "where are the jobs" remark, the Sena said the opposition party should not forget that the unemployment scenario during its rule was equally deplorable. "There was a news about one lakh fresh jobs being created through the Ayushman Bharat (national health protection) scheme. But there was another report which said 24 lakh government posts are lying vacant and three crore youths are jobless. These two reports highlight the hard reality of the unemployment situation in the country," the Sena said in an editorial in its mouthpiece "Saamana" today. "There is nothing new in these reports, but they show that nothing has changed during the rule of those who had promised ..

Wishup closes pre series funding by Inflection Point Ventures

Wishup, a startup providing remote employees for various functions across organizations, has closed its pre-series funding led by Inflection Point Ventures (IPV).The closing of the funding round by Inflection Point Ventures (IPV) is a validation of Wishup's vision and services, with which it is set to target more entrepreneurs and startups across India and in markets abroad."With this funding, we will expand our business development, marketing and technology teams. We are looking for well-connected business development managers across Bangalore, Mumbai, Gurgaon and United States," said Neelesh Rangwani, co-founder Wishup."We already see people working from Bali for organizations based in the US. Over the next few years, we want to develop Wishup into a platform where you can get remote employees for various functions with a click of a button. Wishup will be responsible for hiring, training and managing these remote employees," added Neelesh.

3-day strike in Doors-Terai tea gardens begins today

Tea garden workers in most of the gardens in north Bengal plains did not join work today as a Joint Forum of Tea Garden workers called a three-day strike demanding a hike in their minimum wages, convenor of the forum said. The Joint Forum has given a call for the strike in 153 gardens of Dooars region and 48 gardens in Terai region from today after a tripartite meeting on raising the minimum wage falied to reach a consensus yesterday, forum convenor Ziaur Alam said. Twenty-three labour unions of the 27 unions under the forum are supporting the strike, he said. Twenty-seven gardens in Darjeeling, which are already hit by the shutdown in the Hills last year, have been kept outside the purview of the bandh, Alam said. But no produce was dispatched from the gardens today, he said. The workers did not report for work in most of the tea gardens in Jalpaiguri district such as Banarhat Tea Garden and Luksan Tea Garden, Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh leader John Barla said. However, ...

17 lakh Maha govt employees on 3-day strike for salary hike

Around 17 lakh employees of the Maharashtra government began their three-day strike today to press for various demands, including implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission report. Essential services in various departments, including government hospitals, are likely to be affected as class 3 and 4 government employees have joined the strike, Maharashtra Rajya Sarkari Karmachari Madhyavarti Sanghatna general secretary Avinash Daund claimed. He accused the state government of paying a mere "lip-service" to their long-pending demands. "About 17 lakh government employees from various departments, including zilla parishads, teachers and state-run corporations, will take part in the three-day strike," said Milind Sardeshmukh, president of the organisation which has called for the protest. The government employees are yet to receive arrears accrued to them since the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission by the state government, he said. He claimed that 1.85 lakh posts of class 3 and ..

17 lakh Maharashtra government employees begin 3-day strike

Around 17 lakh Maharashtra government employees launched a three-day strike on Tuesday over pending demands including implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission Report with departments like education and medical severely hit.

Discontinuance of cleaners' services in AC coaches irks Cong

The Congress in Madhya Pradesh has claimed that the Jabalpur railway division's decision to discontinue the services of cleaning workers in AC coaches has affected the hygiene conditions in trains. Earlier, there was a system wherein a worker was assigned the task of cleaning two air-conditioned coaches, apart from there being attenders in every AC coach. Both had their set defined jobs, Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee secretary Saurabh Nati Sharma said yesterday. "While the cleaning workers used to clean the toilets and coaches, the attenders were assigned the job of providing bed-rolls and food to passengers," he said. However, from July 15, the Jabalpur rail division discontinued the services of cleaning workers in AC coaches and assigned their jobs to attenders, besides the latter's regular work of providing bed-rolls and serving food. This has caused inconvenience to passengers, Sharma claimed. However, Divisional Railway Manager Manoj Kumar said that services in .

Maha employees call for strike from tomorrow; govt agrees to

Around 17 lakh employees of the Maharashtra government would go on a three-day strike beginning tomorrow to press for demands like implementation of the Seventh Pay commission. However, around 1.5 lakh gazettedofficers withdrew from the strike after a Government Resolution (GR) was issued tonight stating that the pending arrears of the Dearness Allowance (DA) for a period of 14 months will be paid to them. Another GR was issued stating that the 7th pay commission will be implemented from January 2019. The demand of employees for a five-day week and raising the retirement age from 58 years to 60 years will be taken up during Diwali, an official said tonight. The arrears will be paid in the salaries of employees for August month, as per the GR. If the implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission is delayed, the employees will get the benefit as per the wage structure of the Central government employees from January 2019, it stated. Earlier in the day, state Government ...

Russia's Rusal shuts down Nadvoitsky plant due to U.S. sanctions

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's Rusal, the world's largest aluminium producer outside China, has started shutting down production at one of its smaller plants as a result of U.S. sanctions on the company, Rusal representatives said on Monday.

Delhi government to move SC against HC verdict on minimum wages

The Delhi government on Monday said it will move the Supreme Court against the Delhi High Court judgment quashing its notification on minimum wages and hold a meeting with trade union leaders to decide the next course of action.

Delhi HC directs employers to not recover increased wages

The Delhi High Court on Monday ordered all the scheduled employers, who gave enhanced wages as per the notification issued by the Delhi government and the Lieutenant Governor, to not recover any such amount from their employees.After the Delhi government's notification to increase minimum wages was struck down, the court clarified that employers who paid enhanced wages as per the notification shall not recover the money from their employees.This puts to rest the confusion and apprehensions regarding employers trying and revoking enhanced wages that were paid earlier as per a government notice.The government had noticed that certain employers are contemplating to recover increased minimum wages from workers, after the High Court on Saturday quashed the government notification that had fixed higher minimum wages for workers in March 2017.

Odisha proposes to increase minimum wage for daily labourers

The Odisha government has proposed to raise the minimum wage for daily labourers by at least by 40 per cent, official sources said today. A notification issued by the Labour and Employees State Insurance department proposed to increase the minimum daily wage by 40 per cent from Rs 200 to Rs 280 for unskilled labourers while the semi-skilled labourers will get a hike by 45 per cent from Rs 220 daily to Rs Rs 320. Similarly, Skilled labourers will get a hike by 54 per cent from Rs 240 to Rs 370 per day. The high skilled labourers to get 65 per cent raise in their daily wages. They will get Rs 430 per day instead of Rs 260 daily, the notification said. The department has sought public views and objections on the proposals made by the state government. The notification said that the new wage will benefit about 2 crore daily labourers and help improve economic standard of the working class. The hike in the minimum wage will also help the check the migration of labourers from ..

Maha govt employees on three-strike strike from Aug 7

Around 17 lakh employees of the Maharashtra government would go on a three-day strike beginning tomorrow to press for demands like implementation of the Seventh Pay commission. State Government Employees Organisation president Nitin Sardeshmukh said class III and class IV employees of Zilla Parishads, state hospitals, staff working at Mantralaya (secretariat) will participate in the strike. "The employees of the Central government have been getting the benefits of the 7th pay commission since 2016. Seven state governments have implemented the pay commission," he said. Sardeshmukh said the employees are yet to receive the arrears accrued to them since the implementation of the sixth Pay Commission by the state government. He said 1.85 lakh posts of class III and class IV employees are lying vacant in Maharashtra. "Moreover, the demand for filling up 30,000 posts on compassionate grounds is also not accepted by the state government," Sardesmukh claimed. He said around 30 ..

Delhi govt will move SC against quashing revision of min wages by HC

The APP government will challenge the Delhi High Court verdict that quashed its notification on revision of minimum wages for workers, Labour minister Gopal Rai said today. In its August 4 verdict, the court scrapped the Delhi government's much-touted March 2017 order revising the minimum wages for all classes of workmen in scheduled employment, saying the "hurried" decision was taken without hearing the employers or employees who would be affected and was violative of the Constitution. In a meeting with officers his department, Rai reviewed the court order. "Delhi government will challenge the verdict through a special leave petition in the Supreme Court," Rai told reporters. The strategy to be followed by the government in challenging the High Court verdict will be discussed with the counsel of the department in a meeting tomorrow, he said. The minister claimed that the order impacts the interests of around 50-60 lakh employees, and said opinion of the trade unions will also be ...

Don't recover amount paid as wages: HC

The Delhi High Court on Monday ordered employers not to recover the amount which they have paid their employees as per the wages fixed by the Delhi government in 2017.