Beedi workers stage stir over DA

Under the aegis of Beedi Mazdoor Sangha (BMS), Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS) and Indian Trade Union Congress (INTUC), hundreds of women marched from the PVS Circle to the Bharath Beedi Works Pvt Ltd building, and staged a dharna there.

The protesters said the company had assured them of paying Rs 4,500, the arrears of the dearness allowance pending from 1996 to 2006 and also an increase of Rs 8.30 per thousand beedis.

Though it is already one year after a tri-party settlement (January 31, 2007), the company has not paid the amount, they stated.

“The company has paid the amount to the workers in Karnataka state but we have been denied the same,” they alleged and urged for the immediate payment of the assured amount.