Civil societies seek 3-fold hike on wages of brick moulders

society organizations in Jaipur are demanding a threefold hike on minimum wage of brick moulders. The organisations, led by People’s Union for Civil Liberties, met the principal secretary of the labour department on Thursday and submitted a memorandun to press for their cause. The memorandum mentioned that more than four lakhs migrant workers were employed in thousands of brick kilns across Rajasthan. Of that, two-third are moulders. The pay scale of these brick moulders is possibly the worst in the country, it said.

The state government, in a notification issued on February 7, 2017, had proposed to raise the wages of moulders to Rs 227 from ₹ 221 (minimum wage for skilled worker) for making 1,000 bricks.

The increase when compared to the wage structure in other states of North India show how little these brick moulders make for their labour.

“In reality, brick moulders in Rajasthan earn Rs 107 for a day’s work against the minimum wage of Rs 227 per day,” said Ashok Khandelwal, a labour economist who also signed the memorandum. “If we assume that there are one lakh moulders and each labourer toils for 150 days then the workers each worker incurs a loss of Rs 16,500 per season. This loss increases substantially if we take into account the low minimum time wage rate compared to other states,” he added.

The low minimum wage in the present case has nothing to so with economics and the result of state apathy. Where workers are aware and raise demands, wages earned by them are higher, said said Kavita Srivastav, PUCL president.