A comprehensive law should be brought out to provide PF, ESI and other social security benefits to ‘mutha workers’, CITU leader V.S. Padmanabha Raju demanded on Sunday.
Addressing a meeting organised to mark the inaugural of the two-day 9th convention of Visakha Zilla Mutha Workers’ Union affiliated to the CITU on Sunday, Mr. Padmanabha Raju said that it was unfortunate that no labour law was being implemented for mutha workers, even though they had been rendering services for years together.
“These workers play a key role in loading and unloading of essential commodities and delivering them to consumers. After working from the early hours of the day to late in the night, they are making barely ₹400 a day. The government should establish a welfare board for mutha workers,” he said.
Job security
CITU city president RKSV Kumar alleged that the Centre was amending labour laws to favour the managements while depriving the workers of their benefits. “Move to privatise PSUs is throwing workers out of their jobs. The entry of shopping malls and supermarkets into the city is also depriving the ‘mutha’ workers of their livelihood. They need job security,” he said.
Union general secretary M. Subba Rao sought better amenities to mutha workers. Honorary president Y. Raju presided over the meeting. The mutha workers took out a rally from Poorna Market to the Gandhi statue near the GVMC administrative building covering Police Barracks, Saraswathi Park and Dabagardens.
