The Hindu : Karnataka News : ‘75 per cent of beedi workers not getting statutory benefits’

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Monday, Jul 06, 2009
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Karnataka

Karnataka

‘75 per cent of beedi workers not getting statutory benefits’

Special Correspondent

Only 2.5 lakh of the 10 lakh beedi workers getting benefits; many units are not providing PF, bonus to them, says CITU leader

BANGALORE: The Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) State general secretary V.J.K. Nair on Sunday expressed concern that more than 75 per cent of beedi workers in the State were not getting any social security benefits such as provident fund and bonus that had to be extended to them by beedi industries as per the Beedi and Cigar Workers’ Act.

Mr. Nair told The Hindu on the sidelines of a workshop, organised here by the Karnataka State Beedi Workers’ Federation to sensitise beedi workers on the provisions of the above Act, that women beedi workers were supposed to get maternity leave as per the norms.

But only 2.5 lakh beedi workers of the 10 lakh in the State were getting these benefits.

In fact, the awareness was very low in the Old Mysore region and northern parts of the State, as only 10 per cent of workers from these areas were getting PF.

The Beedi and Cigar Workers Act had made it mandatory for beedi industries to maintain a logbook, besides giving workers identity cards and extending social security benefits.

But the industries had taken advantage of lack of awareness among poor beedi workers and were violating the norms, he alleged.

The main disadvantage was that the industries were not maintaining logbooks.

Mr. Nair alleged that a majority of beedi workers were not even getting the minimum wages — Rs. 74.33 for making 1,000 beedis. The rural beedi workers were getting only Rs. 45 to Rs. 65 per thousand beedis.

He noted that the Government was supposed to collect a cess of Rs. 17 from beedi industries for every 1,000 beedis manufactured by them.

Of this, Rs. 6 was supposed to be spent on welfare measures for beedi workers, such as providing basic amenities in the residential areas of beedi workers, improving sanitation etc. But the Government was not in a position to collect this cess from most of the beedi industries as they had not maintained proper logbooks.

Mr. Nair said that maintaining a registry of beedi workers by the industries was a must for the welfare of workers as it was the only basis for their rehabilitation when cultivation of tobacco was expected to be banned after 2020.

The workshop aimed at creating awareness among the grassroots-level beedi workers’ leaders about the social security benefits which are due to them.

Campaign

The CITU would also launch from September first week a taluk and district-level campaign demanding various social security benefits to unorganised workers, including a minimum wage of Rs. 6,000 for those in the districts and Rs. 10,000 for those in Bangalore, he said.

The CITU State president B. Madhava, who is also national working president of the All-India Beedi Workers’ Federation, and Karnataka State Beedi Workers Federation general secretary Syed Mujeeb also addressed the participants at the workshop.

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