By Subodh Varma, TNN
One of the key issues on which the negotiations between the government
and the 10 central trade unions that had called for a general strike on
Wednesday broke down was that of minimum wages. A labour ministry
document circulated amongst the trade unions days before the strike,
argued that by current norms, prices and calorific needs, Rs.6330 per
month is the monthly wage adequate for an unskilled worker with a wife
and two small children.
The trade unions and various other federations that represent 15 crore
workers had demanded Rs.15,000 per month minimum wage as a national
level floor wage. Striking a generous posture, the government modestly
increased its proposal to Rs.7098 per month.
What the government had proposed was less than half of what was
demanded. This was one of the contributory factors to the breakdown of
negotiations. Other demands of the workers included social security
coverage, non-interference with existing labour laws, etc.
How did the government calculate their proposal? A look at the fine
print shows a slew of gross under-estimations and the use of an archaic
formula first spelled out way back in 1957. Some of the food items'
prices are far from reality. For instance dal is costed at Rs.65 but
only one of the various dals in the market - chana or gram dal - comes
in this range. Arhar (tur) is Rs.135 per kg, urad is Rs.117.5, masur is
Rs.95. All these current retail prices are from the consumer affairs
ministry's price monitoring data spanning 81 cities and towns.
Mutton is priced at a bizarre Rs.80 per kg, although it doesn't really
matter because only 50 g is allowed. This is convertible to 250 grams of
vegetables which are priced at an imaginary Rs.16 per kg. In the real
world mutton is selling at anywhere between Rs.300 to Rs.400 per kg. And
rarely if any vegetable sells at Rs.16 per kg.
But the real rub comes in the non-food items. Just Rs.390 is supposed to
be spent on rent every month. And, fuel for cooking and utilities like
electricity etc. are all supposed to be covered under a meagre Rs.780.
All education, medical expenses, marriages, care of elderly, recreation
etc. is lumped together and costed at 25 percent of the food
expenditure. This practice started after the Supreme Court in a landmark
judgement in 1991 directed as much saying that if such a minimum wage
cannot be guaranteed then the managements have no right to run their
business. But even this works out to a mere Rs.980 per month.
Costs of education and healthcare have risen tremendously in the past
several years and even one major episode of sickness in the family would
be devastating. The government's wage calculation seems to be
blissfully unaware of this.
Recent government data shows that real wages, that is, after adjusting
for inflation are dipping while the share of wages to profits is also
dipping in the organized sector. In the unorganized sector which employs
over 90 percent of India's workforce, wages are abysmally low and
conditions of work onerous. Small wonder then that the trade unions were
unwilling to accept the government's proposals.
Source : The Economic Times
