Date:10/12/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/12/10/stories/2008121054070400.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Hotel workers demand minimum wage of Rs. 10,000

Special Correspondent

Bangalore: The Bangalore Jilla Hotel Karmikara Sangha, which is affiliated to the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), has urged the Labour Department to fix the minimum monthly wage for workers in the hotel industry at Rs. 10,000.

Speaking to reporters here on Tuesday, sangha president E.K.N. Rajan and general secretary Melchior R.D said Bangalore had become a costly city to live in. Prices of all essential commodities were on the rise as were house rent, electricity and water charges and the cost of education. The State Government had not revised the minimum wage of hotel employees for eight years.

Although Labour Minister B.N. Bache Gowda said he agreed that it was impossible for them to make a living with their meagre wages, he had done very little to redress their grievances.

He could have asked officials to look into their demands and urged the industry to give wages commensurate with the cost of living index, they said. The sangha urged the Government to order hotel managements to fix a minimum wage of Rs. 10,000, plus Dearness Allowance.

They alleged that lodges, restaurants and star hotels were recruiting workers on contract, depriving them of the notified minimum wage, weekly off, annual leave, bonus, healthcare under the ESIS and Provident Fund benefits.

The fate of workers in the many clubs in Bangalore was no better. They urged the Government to abolish the system of contract labour.

The leaders also urged the Maharashtra Government and the Centre to pay a minimum compensation of Rs. 10 lakh to the families of the workers who died during the terrorist attacks at the hotels in Mumbai and said that no one was talking about the fate of the families of the deceased.

The family members should be given employment.

They said the sangha would submit memorandums to Governor Rameswhar Thakur and Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa demanding that their grievances be redressed. If that did not yield results, the sangha would launch an agitation.