JOIN USOn the second day of talks between the Government and the trade unions on Thursday, the unions agreed to consider the proposals for hike in minimum wages and legal protection for contract labour. Eleven central trade unions will meet on Friday to discuss the proposals.
However, the trade union leaders reiterated that their call for a strike on September 2 stands and there was no change in their stance.
“Today's meeting was inconclusive and the chances of trade unions calling off the strike are remote. We told the government that we are not fully convinced about their effort,” AITUC General Secretary D L Sachdev told reporters after their meeting with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley-led inter-ministerial panel.
Labour minister Bandaru Dattatreya is also on the panel.“Tomorrow’s meeting has been called to review the preparations for the strike, and also to study the outcome of the talks with the government in the last two days,” Sachdev said.
The same view was expressed by CITU president A K Padmanabhan. He said that nothing had come out of the talks with the government. AITUC leader Amarjeet Kaur said the proposals regarding minimum wages and contract labour were unacceptable.
BMS leaders Brijesh Upadhyay and Pawan Kumar, however, were all praise for the government, which they said had shown willingness and many proposals were positive. “We will discuss them tomorrow,” they added.