The Hindu : Beedi workers take out rally

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Mar 05, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Nizamabad

Beedi workers take out rally

By Our Staff Reporter

NIZAMABAD, MARCH 4. Hundreds of women beedi workers took out a rally in the town on Thursday to highlight the problems being confronted by them for the last few years.

The rally was taken out under the aegis of the Shramik Shakti AP Beedi Workers' Union, representing the interests of a large number of beedi workers in the district.

The rally began from ITI grounds and went round the town before culminating into a public meeting at the Rajiv Gandhi auditorium in the evening.

Speakers at the meeting complained that for the last four years, the wages for beedi workers had not been revised. They demanded sufficient supply of leaves and tobacco to roll beedis.

They said that each worker should be allowed to roll 1,200 beedis a day and provided with 26 days of work a month.

The leaders demanded that the wages be paid in the first week of every month and all eligible workers be brought under the purview of the provident fund.

Referring to the problems confronted by the beedi industry, they charged that manufacturers were encouraging `vardi beedi' by paying low wages to workers. Rolling of `vardi beedi' deprived genuine workers their legitimate wages, they bemoaned. They sought a ban on making of `vardi beedis'. They also demanded an immediate ban on sale of mini cigarettes.

The union State president, Chandranna, and general secretary, E. Varalaxmi, besides several other leaders addressed the workers.

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