Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, February 25, 2010:
To press their demand for hike in daily wage and adequate relief amount, casual paid labourers of BRTF have threatened to go ahead with cease work strike.
Talking to mediapersons in this regard at Manipur Press Club here today, president of the newly formed All Manipur GREF Labourers' Union Pouthoilung Golmei explained that the decision to take recourse to agitation in order to press their demands has been taken as the daily wages being paid is not enough to look after the needs of their respective families.
Over and above this, adequate relief is not provided to the labourers in case of accidental death or injuries.
He informed that the Union was formed during a joint meeting of all the labourers working under five RCC units of the Project Sewak of BRO/BRTF in Manipur on December 5 last year.
In the same meeting, these demands have been raised and decided to pursue.
Highlighting these demands, Union would be submitting a memorandum to the Director General of BRO tomorrow.
Elaborating on the demands, Golmei said the daily wage of the casual paid labourers should be increased to Rs 200 and apart from adequate relief provisions, Rs 50,000 should be given to the next of kin of the labourer in case of Natural death.
��In case of not receiving any positive response to these demands, we may be constraint to go ahead with cease work strike'', Golmei warned.
General secretary of the Union Hegin Kipgen disclosed that at present labourers are being paid Rs 85 as daily wage.
But this amount is not enough considering the rise in prices of essential commodities and the duration of the working hours.
If a labourer fails to attend the work for a day, the wage amount for two days is deducted inspite of the fact that the labourers have to make the arrangement for fooding and lodging themselves, Hegin added.
In such a situation, Nageswar Dubey of Jharkhand, who has been working in Manipur for more than 30 years now, bemoaned that he does not know how to take care and look after the needs of his family.