Minimum Wage
Affiliates across the country in different sectors in the unorganised sector have been struggling for the basic right to the statutory minimum wage. It was felt in the NTUI that these struggles need to be brought within a unified framework and a national level strategy adopted to guide these struggles.
A conceptual working note was drafted by the secretariat for discussion. The idea that was developed in the note was the necessity for a need-based minimum wage that would take into account regional differences but not differences in levels of skill or gender or sector of work as these are intrinsically biased against a certain historically discriminated section of the working class.
In this general election, NTUI also campaigned on the need for regular revision of minimum wages keeping in accordance to the revision of Dearness Allowance. In addition it was proposed that the government should promote Industry level wage agreement with lowest level of the industry wage being higher than the base level of the regional minimum wage to incorporate the productivity gains of the industry. And it was stressed that non-payment of minimum wage be made a cognizable offence in consonance with the Reptakos Bret case in which the Supreme Court ruled that non-payment of minimum wage amounts to a condition of forced labour.