West Bengal: Government signs tripartite wage agreement for jute mill workers ahead of Lok Sabha elections
Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the West Bengal government has signed a tripartite wage agreement for jute mill workers, officials said.
He said the agreement, which was signed on Wednesday, will affect more than 3 lakh workers of 113 jute mills in West Bengal, including about 50 new jute mills that have come up in the state in recent years.
The agreement aims to improve workers’ wages and benefits. The last time such an agreement was signed was in 2019, he said.
The agreement between the Indian Jute Mills Association (IJMA), mill owners who are not part of IJMA and 23 central trade unions was signed in the presence of state labor minister Moloy Ghatak and facilitated by the labor department.
Officials said that before the agreement was signed, several meetings were held in the presence of the minister to discuss the modalities.
“Before signing the agreement, nine tripartite and several bilateral meetings were held in the presence of the minister,” Additional Labor Commissioner Tirthankar Sengupta told PTI.
Welcoming the agreement, former IJMA president Sanjay Kajaria said bringing in all jute mills as signatories will create a level playing field.
He said the contribution of non-IJMA jute mills in government supplies has increased to 11 percent.
As per the agreement, the entry level daily wage has been increased from Rs 370 to Rs 485.
The gross monthly salary for the new hires will be Rs 14,066, which is an increase of approximately Rs 3,562 compared to the previous pay structure.
Officials said this will lead to a total increase of Rs 4,550 in CTC for a new employee, with existing employees now getting Rs 17,271, an increase of Rs 553 from Rs 16,718.
Employees hired in 2019 will now get Rs 14,132, a hike of Rs 586, while the monthly salary of 2002 employees will rise by Rs 627 to Rs 15,837.
Additionally, all existing workers of the combined mills will get an additional Rs 130 as ad-hoc salary.
Housing allowance for all types of workers has been increased from 5% to 7.5%.
The daily attendance bonus for the most experienced workers has been increased to Rs 50, while new employees will get Rs 15.
This agreement categorizes workers into unskilled, semi-skilled, skilled and highly skilled, with each category receiving a specific fitment allowance depending on their job role.
Officials said that over the next six months, the State Productivity Council will hold consultations to determine understanding, grading and scaling for workers.
