PANAJI: The second meeting of the tripartite Minimum Wage Advisory Board held on Friday at the Secretariat ended in a checkmate after three hours of heated deliberations with the labour representatives refusing to settle on the gazzetted draft minimum wages ranging between Rs 284 to Rs 322 for unskilled and highly skilled workers.
While the employees and the employers both expressed displeasure at the draft gazette wages, the sole positive side of the meeting was the announcement from the labour department about including escalation clause with minimum wage of Rs 284.
Speaking to the media after the meeting, Labour Minister Avertano Furtado stated, “This is the first time that the escalation clause has been announced in Goa, which would come into play every six months for government as well as private sectors. But ee will seek to have another round of discussion with both the parties in an attempt to notify the final minimum wages.”
The meeting was attended by representatives of scheduled employments and trade unions along with Labour Minister Avertano Furtado, Benaulim MLA Caetano Silva, Labour Commissioner Fatima Rodrigues, Assistant Labour Commissioner Prasad Pednekar and deputy Labour Commissioner Asha Khaunte.
Explaining the stand of labour unions, Christopher Fonseca of AITUC stated, “The unions have taken a categorical stand that the minimum wages for unskilled workers with linkage to cost of living can’t be less than Rs 600. It is unfortunate and very disturbing that the government has notified lesser wages without linking to cost of living. We request the government to take a judicious view as not less than three lakh workers will be affected by this.”
Representatives of Centre of Indian Trade Unions, Municipal Employees’ Union, Indian National Trade Union Congress, Goa Rajya Kamgar Sangh and other labour unions were also present.
Meanwhile, the employers pointed out that their request for setting the minimum wages at Rs 270 linked with Variable Dearness Allowance was not accepted by the government. “Cost of production is going up and yet our duly calculated figure of Rs 270 was not accepted. This leaves us with no other option but to accept Rs 284,” said one employer.
The first meeting held on November 4 had also ended with the employees’ representatives fighting for their demand of a hike of almost 179 per cent in minimum wage rates for unskilled workers, from Rs 215 to Rs 600 a day for unskilled workers and an additional Rs 50 for each of category including semi-skilled, skilled and highly skilled.
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POSITIVE POINT
* Sole positive side of the meeting was the announcement from the labour department about including escalation clause with minimum wage of Rs 284
* The first meeting held on November 4 had also ended with the employees’ representatives fighting for their demand of a hike of almost 179 per cent
