PANJIM: The Goa convention of workers protested before the Labour Commission to oppose changes to the Minimum Wages Act.
Addressing the media, Bhartiya Majdur Sangh (BMS) leader Rudai Nath Shirodkar said the government without taking union leaders and workers into consideration implemented a corrigendum in which the workers will have to bear a loss of Rs 10,000 annually.
He said that around 30,000 workers in Goa are covered under the Minimum Wages Act. In the latest corrigendum implemented by the State government a worker will lose around Rs 780 per month and this is why they were protesting before the Labour Commission.
The Union demanded that the contract system be abolished in government departments, all contract workers be regularized, and the corrigendum withdrawn. They also demanded raincoats to operators and meter readers.
The workers have given the government a 15-day ultimatum to scrap the corrigendum, failing which all workers union will go on an industrial bandh and if the demands are not met they will go an industrial strike on September 2.
