BENGALURU: Thousands of garment workers have organised a protest on Thursday in front of the Labour Department office here demanding minimum wages.
All workers, except garment sector employees, earn a monthly income of Rs 11,557. The garment sector employs 85% of women in its workforce and the number of employees runs into lakhs.
However, workers are paid less than minimum wages fixed by the government.
The wages, which need to be revised once every three to five years, have remained stagnant even after six years. Of 82 scheduled employments, for 73 of the categories the state government has fixed minimum wages of Rs. 11,557.
In February 2018, the government issued an order for similar wages to garment workers. However, the government retracted the order within a month, putting garment workers at a disadvantage.
A case was filed in the High Court, which in March 2019 ordered the government to fix minimum wages within six months.
Even after the mandated time, wages have not yet been fixed by the government
