BENGALURU: Thousands of daily-wage workers held a day-long protest at Freedom Park on Thursday throwing traffic out of gear at Seshadri Junction.They wanted the 7th Pay Commission’s recommendations to be implemented that includes `18,000 minimum wage for workers and provident fund for contract workers. They also wanted the Karnataka Labour Conference (KLC) to be set up as workers in the state faced a lot of issues, said S Varalakshmi, president of state CITU (Centre for Indian Trade Unions).
KLC is a tripartite committee like Indian Labour Conference at union level. “Domestic workers, street vendors, construction workers, automobile mechanics should be given pension. There is a draft notification for this that has gone to the government from the Labour department. We want this to become an Act. Karnataka has 1 crore 35 lakh who need social security. `330 should be given by the government and an equal amount should be given by the employee,” she said.
“We want it (pension scheme) to become an Act so that even if there is a change in government, it cannot be changed,” she said. Labour Minister Santosh Lad assured the setting up of the KLC, Varalakshmi said.