Saturday, Jul 16, 2022 09:00 [IST]
Last Update: Saturday, Jul 16, 2022 03:21 [IST]
Nobody including OFOJ workers should get monthly wages less than Rs. 15,000: SPYF
GANGTOK,: The Sikkim Progressive Youth Forum (SPYF) executive members on Friday maintained that minimum monthly wages for casual government employees including the OFOJ recruits should not be less than Rs. 15,000 in line with the minimum wages notification issued by the Labour department.
Last week, the Labour department had issued a notification with the proposed revised minimum daily wages for four categories of workers in Sikkim. As per the July 11 notification, it was proposed to have Rs. 500 as minimum daily wage for an unskilled worker which comes to Rs. 15,000 per month. Similar hike of Rs. 200 has been proposed for the other three categories of workers.
The department also invited written comments, suggestions and objections from people within 60 days of the notification.
Addressing a press meet here, SPYF executives Rupen Karki and Shankar Sharma pointed out that it is a decision of the State government to provide Rs. 15,000 as minimum monthly wages for the workers. Hence, workers of all sectors should be getting Rs. 15,000 as minimum monthly salaries and the casual and OFOJ employees of State government should also get similar minimum wages, they said.
Nobody should be getting less than Rs. 15,000 as monthly minimum wages, said the SPYF executives.
Hundreds of unemployed local youth had been hired as casual government workers under the OFOJ (One Family One Job) scheme in 2018-19. Most of them receive a monthly salary of Rs. 10,000.
According to the SPYF, the revised minimum wages stand applicable from July 11, the day when the notification was issued. “We had met the Labour secretary yesterday and when we asked her when the revised wages are applicable, we were informed that it is implemented from the date of the notification which is July 11. Hence, the workers would be getting their revised salaries from the coming month,” they said.
