The Hindu : Wage board: DUJ seeks MPs' support

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Friday, Jan 30, 2004

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Wage board: DUJ seeks MPs' support

By Our Staff Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JAN. 29. The Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ) has written to Members of Parliament seeking their support for a long-pending demand to set up a board to revise the wages of journalists and improve their work conditions.

The letter, signed by the DUJ president, S.K.Pande, and general secretary, Javed Faridi, points out that the ``outdated'' Working Journalists Act must be amended to bring under its purview all newspersons, whether in print or electronic media, and save journalists from the ``bondage of contracts.''

It states that the issue has assumed urgency, as the Labour Ministry is not responding to their just demands. ``Since the ongoing session of Parliament is short, we are hopeful that you will raise the matter in the House at an appropriate time and lend strength to our cause.'' The DUJ says that while wages are generally revised every five years in all other industries, a chaotic situation prevails in the newspaper industry, with journalists waiting for more than 10 years at an average to get their wages raised.

Despite a statutory responsibility under the Act to constitute wage boards periodically, the governments of the day — irrespective of party composition — have shied away from it, the letter says. Meanwhile, stagnating wages have made it difficult for journalists to make both ends meet. ``It is an irony that journalists are starving, while newspaper barons are multiplying their profits as is reflected in their annual reports.''

The letter also draws the MPs' attention to the system of contract employment that many newspaper proprietors are adopting. Using this device, journalists, barring a selected few, are paid only a fraction of what they legitimately deserve, the DUJ says.

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