Contract workers of the rail coach unit of Bharat Earth Movers Ltd. at Kolar Gold Fields staged a dharna at the Urgaum Grounds recently seeking a minimum wages of Rs. 12,000 per month and other facilities.
Their other demands include regularisation of services of contract workers and payment of 20 per cent bonus, BEML Rail Coach Contract Operators and Workers Union honorary president S. Prasanna Kumar said.
Mr. Kumar charged BEML administration with neglecting the contract employees of the coach unit which was started in 2004.
The contract workers in a coach unit in Kerala are paid Rs. 12,000 salary a month and also given other facilities. But the contract workers in the KGF unit draw Rs. 258 as daily wages, he said.
The workers cannot lead a dignified life in view of the rising prices of essential commodities, Mr. Kumar, who is also the state general secretary of CITU, said.
The contract workers should be granted of Rs. 5,000 towards education of their children, the union urged. A sum of Rs. 2 lakh should be given as compensation to the families of contract workers in the event of death while on duty. One member each of such families should be given job on compassionate grounds, it said.
