Hundreds of Beedi workers, most of them women, blocked the road in front of the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation regional office at Kankanady and laid siege to the building for over two hours on Tuesday. The workers were demanding an increase in pension with retrospective effect.
The agitation was held under the banner of the South Kanara Beedi Workers' Federation, which is affiliated to the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) of the Communist Party of India (CPI).
In a memorandum submitted to the Regional Commissioner of the EPFO Renu Ramachandran, the agitators pointed out that those beedi workers, who had joined after November 16, 1995, were getting a pension of less than Rs. 20 a month.
Contending that this “paltry sum” was not enough to lead a “dignified human existence”, they demanded that the minimum pension amount should be fixed at Rs. 1,500 a month with a retrospective effect. “This should be applicable to all pensioners from November 1995,” the memorandum said while also demanding that the pension claim should be linked to the consumer price index.
The issue of inordinate delays in the settlement of pension claims found mention in the memorandum, which demanded the passage of standing orders to clear all claims within one month.
Addressing the gathering, AITUC general secretary H.V. Anantha Subbarao said that a much larger agitation ‘Bangalore Chalo' is scheduled for February 10, 2011, where the issues of the unorganised sector would be taken up.
Calling upon the beedi workers to participate in the agitation, he said: “No elected representative or swamiji will come to your rescue. You must stand up for your own rights.”
He used the opportunity to lash out at the crisis-ridden Bharatiya Janata Party Government. He criticised the Lingayat swamijis who supported Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa. “Despite the overwhelming evidence of wrongdoing by the Chief Minister these religious leaders think nothing of putting their weight behind him. Have they ever raised their voices for the poor and downtrodden people of this state?” he asked.
