New Delhi: In a bid to dissuade government employees from going on a country-wide strike scheduled on Friday, the Centre on Tuesday decided to pay two years pending bonus of central government’s employees.
The payment of pending bonus would put an additional burden of Rs 1,920 crore on the government.
The government has also fixed the minimum wage at Rs 350 per day.
Announcing the decision, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the decision should not be associated with the proposed strike of Trade Unions.
Jaitley said that the Centre has also decided to write to all states regarding compliance of Contract workers law.
The government has, however, refused to concede to the demands of trade unions on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) reforms. Jaitley said the government will not back down on FDI.
On March 30, central trade unions including INTUC, AITUC, HMS, CITU, AIUTUC, among others, had given a call for a day-long nationwide strike on September 2 to protest against the Modi governments "unilateral labour reforms and anti-worker policies".
Yesterday, Reserve Bank of India workers and employees announced their decision to join the day-long strike called by central trade unions.
The unions have demanded hike in minimum wages, social security to scheme workers, and speedy registration of trade unions. They have also opposed the government’s proposed labour law and FDI reforms.
As per the latest reports, trade unions have refused to call-off their strike despite the announcement by the government.
