BENGALURU: The state government has revised minimum wages for workers across the state by 60%, Labour Minister Santosh Lad announced, calling it the fulfilment of a long-pending demand of labourers. The revised wage structure is expected to benefit lakhs of workers employed across 81 scheduled sectors in the state.
The revised notification, issued by the Labour Department on Friday, aims to provide greater financial security to workers in the unorganised and specified sectors. Lad said the revision had been taken up in compliance with Supreme Court directions to fix minimum wages.
For the first time, all scheduled employment has been brought under a single notification, replacing the earlier system of separate classifications for four sectors. The state has now been divided into three wage zones – Zone-1 comprising the Greater Bengaluru Area; Zone-2 covering other city corporations and district headquarters; and Zone-3 for the remaining areas.
Workers have been classified into four categories: unskilled, semi-skilled, skilled and highly skilled. Highly skilled workers in Bengaluru and surrounding areas under Zone-1 will now receive a minimum monthly wage of Rs 31,114, while skilled workers will receive Rs 28,285.
Notification eliminates gender bias
Semi-skilled workers will receive Rs 25,714 and unskilled workers Rs 23,376 per month.
In Zone-3 areas, which cover rural and smaller towns, the minimum wage for unskilled workers has been fixed at Rs 19,319 per month, while highly skilled workers will receive Rs 25,714.
The notification also prescribes separate wage structures for workers engaged in sanitation and scavenging work, as well as employees in thermal, hydro, solar and wind power generation units. Workers involved in mechanised sanitation work in Bengaluru areas have been granted wages exceeding Rs 25,700 per month.
The notification additionally expands the list of scheduled employment by including sectors such as non-teaching staff in private schools and colleges, e-commerce and courier services, religious institutions, amusement parks, mobile tower maintenance, LPG distribution units, M-sand units, and computer and cyber centres.
The government has also mandated equal wages for men, women, transgender persons and persons with disabilities performing similar work. Workers employed on overtime or weekly holidays will be entitled to double wages.
The notification states that the Variable Dearness Allowance will be revised annually based on the Consumer Price Index. Employers have been directed to pay wages either directly into workers’ bank accounts or through authorised payment systems. Daily wage calculations will be based on 26 working days per month, with provisions for paid weekly holidays.
