BENGALURU: Karnataka may become the top state in the country to have the highest minimum wages for skilled and unskilled labourers. A wage revision notification is expected to be issued in two weeks.
There are 82 types of scheduled jobs for which minimum wages have been fixed. Labourers come under unskilled, semi-skilled, skilled and highly-skilled categories and minimum wages are fixed as per their categories. As per the 2022 notification issued by the Labour Department, minimum wages vary from Rs 12,000 to Rs 20,000 per month. In Karnataka, there are close to 1.7 crore workers in various sectors, including organised and unorganised.
Official sources told TNIE that the draft notification on wage revision will be placed before the Karnataka Minimum Wage Advisory Board, which will recommend wages for various categories. The state government may accept these recommendations or modify them.
Trade unions have been demanding that the minimum wages be increased up to Rs 35,000 per month.
Labour Minister Santosh Lad said the minimum wages have not been finalised yet. The proposal has to be kept before the board for approval, he said.
Minimum wages yet to be finalised: Santosh Lad
“While employers wanted them to be less. When we finalise the wages, we consider the demands of employers as well as workers. We are going to revise the existing wages. With the revision, Karnataka’s minimum wages are expected to be the highest in India,’’ the sources said.
At present, minimum wages in Delhi are the highest, ranging from Rs 17,000 to Rs 23,000 per month.
Jayaram KR, joint secretary, Garment and Textile Workers’ Union, who was also a member of the board, said for workers in the non-garment sector, the government has fixed around Rs 651 per day, whereas for those in the garment sector, it is Rs 470 per day. This is nothing but discrimination.
Whenever the government revises the wages, it should consider garment workers on par with those in other sectors,’’ he said.
According to Jayaram, there are about 4.5 lakh garment workers in Karnataka, most of them in Bengaluru. He said, “In a city like Bengaluru, where the cost of living is high, how can one manage with such meagre wages?’’
Labour Minister Santosh Lad said minimum wages have not been finalised yet. The proposal has to be kept before the board for approval. “We need to follow certain parameters and then fix the wages. We are hoping to complete this task in the next 15 days,’’ he added.