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Garment industry workers in Karnataka are demanding that the coalition government led by H D Kumaraswamy implement the revised minimum wages. The earlier government led by Siddaramaiah had withdrawn the wage revision proposal in March 2018.
In February 2018, the Siddaramaiah government had put forth a draft notification proposing to double the minimum wages in the garment industries in Karnataka.
The draft notification proposed a hike from the current INR 220 to INR 445 per day for an unskilled worker, from INR 229 to INR 490 for a semi-skilled worker in Bengaluru, from INR 232 to INR 539 for a skilled worker, and from INR 240 to INR 593 for a highly skilled worker.
Around 4.5 lakh people, mostly women, employed in garment industries across the state would have benefited by the implementation of the notification. Nearly 3.5 lakh people are employed in the garment industries in Bengaluru city alone.
The labour department withdrew the notification, citing the garment industries managements’ objections to the revisions. The managements said that the minimum wages were already higher when compared to other states; increasing the wages would adversely affect the garment industry.
The minimum wages for the garment workers were last revised in 2009. Five years later, in 2014, the labour unions won a case in the Karnataka High Court, thus forcing the implementation of the revised wages.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
