news details |
|
|
| Industrial labour denied overtime pay for years | | Labour Department numb to workers' plight | | Arun Singh
Jammu, July 25: How factory workers are being exploited by their employers by forcing them to work overtime in violation of Factories Act can be very well gauged from the fact that at least 200 workers of Saraswati Plasto Tech Pvt Ltd at Bari Brahman Industrial Area were denied overtime pay. Moreover, when workers protested, some of them were fired to crush their raising voices.
Nearly 200 factory workers employed at Saraswati Plasto Tech Pvt Ltd have been working for 10 hours per day but being paid for 8 hours for the last more three to four years. As per the Factories Act -1948, Maximum working hours per day is 8 hrs and 2 hrs overtime.
"It is a rule that maximum working hours for workers cannot be exceeded beyond 8 hours but these employees are working for 10 hours but being paid salary as per 8 hours per day at the end of every month," said workers on the preferring anonymity. While narrating the tale of their woes, they said, "at the time of joining the factory nearly 3 years ago, our salary was fixed Rs 4500 per month for 8 hours per day but were forced to give 10 hours duty on the same salary but after three years of service in the factory now our salary has reached to Rs 5900 per month on getting annual increment but till date the factory owners are exploiting us by continuously denying overtime pay." Further explaining the deceitful act of the employers, workers said as per monthly salary of Rs 5900, it comes to Rs 24.60 per hour and as per rule the overtime is paid double of the hour which is Rs 49.20 and monthly overtime payment amount becomes Rs 2952 which is being cheated by the employers from every worker.
They further said that when they held a protest demonstration against the factory administration for this injustice, administration firstly fired 7 workers who were employed through labour contractors and then cleverly took a decision for rest of the workers that they would now give 8 hours duty instead of 10 hours but again administration played foul with the workers and slashed their salary by cutting two hour overtime, which as a matter of fact was never paid to the workers.
Ironically, despite lodging the complaint with labour department by the workers, nothing had been done to provide justice to this exploited lot of the society. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
