Recent pressure from labour protests led to a hike in wages, claims Sikkim Progressive Youth Forum

The Sikkim Progressive Youth Forum on September 16 said that the recent hike in labour wage is the result of the pressure created by the recent labour protest.

Addressing a press meet the representatives of the Sikkim Progressive Youth said, "Due to pressure from the recent labour protest government has issued a fresh notification raising the labour wages". 

Further, the forum added that during the recent labour protest three members there were arrested without any reason and blamed the government to be autocratic and undemocratic. 

It is to be mentioned here that the recent movement by labourers is also something interesting and not a usual phenomenon.

Earlier, amid the hue and cry of labourers demanding an increase in wage, the Sikkim government on Wednesday announced an increase in the rates of minimum wages by 67 percent. 

The State Government has now classified the categories of the workers and revised the rates of minimum wages as mentioned below:

Unskilled :   ₹ 300 revised to ₹ 500/- per day
Semi-skilled:  ₹ 320/ revised to ₹ 520/- per day
Skilled:   ₹ 335/ revised to ₹ 535/- per day
Highly-skilled: ₹ 365/ revised to ₹ 565/- per day

The Department of Labour, Government of Sikkim had last revised the minimum rates of wages in the Scheduled Employments under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 via a notification on September of 2017.

Watch Video: