State to fix wages for domestic helps

The state government has decided to determine the minimum wages for domestic workers of the state. The state labour department has decided to include the domestic workers in the Minimum Wages Act by making an amendment. The process to determine minimum wages of such workers is in the final stage. According to sources, on the strong demand from the organisation working for the welfare of domestic workers, the labour department has decided to incorporate the domestic workers in the schedule of the Minimum Wages Act. “Apart from coming up with an amendment in the Act, we have also called for suggestions and objections from the people in this regard. A committee was recently formed to determine the minimum wages comprises representatives from organisations of domestic workers, employers and assistant commissioner from the labour commissionerate was appointed as the member secretary of the committee,” said a senior officer, who did not wish to be named. “The committee will decide the minimum wages based on the working hours of domestic workers. Categories would be made on the basis of working hours. The department has received all the suggestions and objections called by the labour commissionerate on the matter and all the details have been submitted to the committee. The Cabinet will take the final decision once the committee comes up with its recommendations,” the officer added. Rupa Kulkarni, president of the Vidarbha Molkarin Sanghatana, an organisation working for the rights of domestic workers for the past 33 years in Vidarbha region, said, “We are of the view that every domestic worker must get at least '10,000 per month, irrespective of the numbers of hours she works.” Ms Kulkarni, who is also member of the Maharashtra State Domestic Workers Welfare Board, argued that when a class IV employee of a corporate house gets '20,000 per month, why shouldn’t a domestic worker not be given a minimum amount of '10,000 every month.