a day ago
AITUC urges Erode Corporation to implement revised minimum wages for SHGs and contract workers
The Erode District Local Bodies Workers' Association, affiliated with the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), has urged the Corporation to implement the revised minimum wages for self-help group (SHG) and contract workers employed in various civic departments.
In a representation to Corporation Commissioner Arpit Jain, association president S. Chinnasamy cited government orders and court rulings, including the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, and a Madras High Court directive mandating minimum wage payments to all local body workers.
The association noted that over 1,500 daily wage workers are engaged under SHGs and contract roles across services such as sanitation, water supply, and street light maintenance. Despite multiple appeals, the revised minimum wages for 2024–2025 have not been implemented, it said.
Mr. Chinnasamy stated that for April 1, 2024, to March 31, 2025, the prescribed daily wages was ₹754 for sanitation workers, water supply staff, and domestic breeding checkers (DBC), and ₹792 for drivers, as per official communications from the Tamil Nadu Labour Department and the Erode District Collector.
For 2025–2026, effective April 1, the updated daily wages should be ₹761 for sanitation, water supply, and DBC staff, and ₹799 for drivers, based on a March 3, 2025, Labour Department letter. However, the Corporation continues to pay only ₹724 per day, the 2023–2024 rate, resulting in a wage loss of at least ₹37 per worker per day.
Calling the non-compliance both unlawful and in contempt of court, the association demanded immediate payment of arrears along with the June 2025 salary.
It also urged the Corporation to extend Employees' State Insurance coverage to all temporary workers, issue ID cards through the Sanitation Workers Welfare Board, ensure access to welfare benefits, and supply safety gear and tools.
The representation warned that failure to act amounts to denying basic legal entitlements to some of the Corporation's most essential and underpaid workers.
