THE Delhi Union of Journalists and the Delhi Press Unity Centre in a joint statement issued on September 24, on the eve of the meeting of the Confederation of Newspaper and News Agencies Employees in Delhi today has demanded that the state and central labour commissioners act in unison to protect the wage board for working journalists as upheld by the Supreme Court. It has also called upon the Labour Commissioners of Delhi and the Central Labour Commissioner Government of India to take steps to immediately ensure implementation of the Wage Board instead of passing the buck to each other in the name of centre/state jurisdiction. The two bodies have called for the widest possible unity and welcomed the meeting of the Confederation on September 25. It has called upon all the newspaper establishments that have challenged the award directly or indirectly to retrace their steps and start immediate implementation. It has welcomed the Telangana Labour Commissioner’s order of September 15 to the management of Eenadu to implement the Wage Board on an appeal by Andhra Pradesh and Telengana journalist bodies. Stating that a twin battle has to be waged against both the contract system and the agents of non-implementation of statutory wage boards and this should be treated as the immediate challenge, the Delhi Union of Journalists and the Press Unity Centre 2014 have called for a battle hand in hand with central and state trade unions. It has welcomed the resolution passed by the central trade unions meeting in Delhi on September 15. The joint statement has further called for joint agitation on common demands which is the need of the hour.