ON February 3, 2014, the CITU’s Haryana state president Surender Singh Malik, who is also a member of the Haryana State Minimum Wages Advisory Board, raised in the board’s meeting the demand that the minimum wage must be at least Rs 15,000 in Haryana. The Advisory Board’s meeting was called by the principal secretary of the Department of Labour and Employment of the state government, who is also chairman of the said board, in Chandigrah. Malik said at the meeting that according to the law, minimum wages must be revised every five years. Thus minimum wages in Haryana should have been revised in 2012. But the process in this context was initiated very late, which was a violation of the law and the Supreme Court directives. He said that all the recognised central trade unions in the state have been demanding a revision of minimum wages for the last two years. All these unions are unanimous on the demand that minimum wages in the state should be fixed at Rs 15,000 per month, and the justification for this demand is based on the very criteria and norms the state government has accepted. Malik also pointed out that item number 3 of the agenda circulated beforehand must be withdrawn as there cannot be different minimum wages for the workers in the state government and public sector and those working in the private sector. It holds no ground in the eyes of law. So this illegal step must be withdrawn. He said the rate of neutralisation per point in the state is very low. The rate of neutralisation must be enhanced suitably to ensure 100 percent neutralisation. Malik also pointed out how in Haryana the differences in the wage rates for different categories of workers are unjustifiable and discourage the productivity of labour. In every category from unskilled to highly skilled, there must be at least 25 percent incremental enhancement. He also said in the meeting that as per the prevailing policy of the government an unskilled worker is considered semi-skilled ‘A’ after completion of ten years of service. This is not fair and the period should be reduced to five years. Malik also pointed out that in Haryana no weightage is being given for service experience of a worker for fixation of minimum wages. For example, a worker working for five to ten years would get the same wages as a fresher. So he demanded that service weightage must be five percent per year when an increment in wages is given to a workman. About the wages of brick kiln workers, he said there were anomalies in the fixation of minimum wages for the piece rate work of these workers. A separate expert committee or subcommittee may be constituted for fixation of fair minimum wages for the said workers. Malik also demanded that the revised minimum wages should be implemented from January 1, 2014.