Dear friends,
Some people have
perhaps without reading the SC order of June 19 on the contempt of court
petitions against newspaper employers, are circulating versions that are aimed
at de-spiriting employees and misleading them. The NUJ(I) has read and re-read
the order and asserts that the order is in fact highly favourable to the cause
of newspaper/agency employees as it clarifies who is eligible for Majithia wage
board benefits and in the process it has made contract employees eligible for
all the benefits including variable pay just like regular workers. Here are all
the major findings as per the order.
1. It is true that
the order of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Navin Sinha has rejected workers’ plea
for initiating contempt of Court proceedings against certain newspaper/agency
employers for non-implementation of the Court’s order of 7 Feb.2014 on Majithia
wage board’s recommendations as notified by the Government. But it is only a
minor loss for us as the Court has clarified all the issues raised by both
parties to our advantage.
2. On the contempt
plea the Court has said that Contempt arises only when there is a “fulfill”
attempt at refusing to implement the court’s order. On the other hand the court
has kept the door open for future action on this separately. (On this point lot
of wrong fears are being circulated claiming that there could be no more apex
court proceedings and therefore no way to workers to get managements to agree.
So a detailed note will follow)
3. Apart from this
question of contempt, all other parts of the June 19 order are totally
favourable to us. The order (a) reiterates the Majthia recommendations have to
be implemented as per 7 Feb 2014 verdict, (b) the entitlement is for all
employees as defined in the Working Journalists Act, (c) it including variable
pay is applicable to all including contract workers.
4. Giving its
order regarding newspapers excluding contract workers from the Majithia
benefits, the June 19 order says: “There is nothing either in the provisions of
the Act or in the terms of the wage board award which would enable us to hold
that the benefit of the award would be restricted to regular employees and not
contractual employees.” This knocks the bottom out of the Managements’
contention that contractual workers have a different payment framework. The
Managements can no longer use contract employment to deny regular workers
benefits under various labour legislations. It is for unions to ensure that
contract workers also get the same benefits as others get. They can now petition
State Labour Commissioner to get these benefits using the June 19 SC order as
the support for their claim under Section 17.
5. The Managements
cannot use plea about “heavy Financial loss” to deny wage scales and other
benefits. These “losses” would have to be proved before the State Labour
Commissioners. It (that is, Heavy financial loss) “should be over a period of
time and facts about it have to be determined separately from case to case”.(
emphasis ours). The unions thus have a heavy responsibility and also
opportunity to prove their worth for workers. Unions MUST maintain a database
of their employers so that the Managements would not be able to hoodwink the
State Labour Commissioner to get him to agree to pay less than what is due.
6. The Court in
June 19 order has said that the wages notified “supersedes all existing
contracts governing wages as may be in force”. Though this reiteration is seen
as routine, it is a victory for us as again it by implication supersedes
contract system workers’ wages which is now replaced by Majithia wages. It also
underlines that “existing contract” is no more a valid plea for rejecting
payment under Majithia scales. (para 24 of the June 19 order)
7. A great win for
us is the Court’s rejection of Managments’ plea that workers have “agreed to
accept less” or “our workers are happy with what they are getting now”. This
excuse for not paying Majithia scales and benefits has been prominently put
forward routinely by newspapers like Jagran. Some managements also produced written
statements signed by workers to buttress the claim of the employers. The
workers of these papers have said that these “agreements” were false and or
obtained under compulsion.
8. The Court
observed that such plea belongs to the question of “waiver” regarding
implementation of minimum wages under the Minimum Wages Act. It said further:
“(it) does not arise in the present case with regard to the involuntary nature
of the undertakings allegedly furnished by them”( Para 24 of the June 19
order). In para 25 the Court has said that the Majithia wages are like Minimum
wages and therefore there could be no accepting of payments below the minimum
wage. The minimum is “non-negotiable”. Implication is that such claims that
workers had agreed to accept less or be satisfied with existing (lower) wages,
cannot be accepted as there is no question of accepting anything below the
minimum fixed under the law. Once for ever at SC level this excuse of workers
agreeing to lower than prescribed wages is dead. Such pleas are barred for
ever. SC has based itself n the case study of
The case law in
this context has been quoted in the June 19 verdict gives finality to the
rejection of any plea for making lower payment than minimum legal. The pleas
like Jagran’s are totally rejected, The Court also seems to incline with the
employee’s contention that the employees’ consent for lower wages has been
obtained under duress, and hence has no evidentiary value. The employers were
taking advantage of the fact that the Working Journalists Act while allowing
workers to continue to get wages and benefits they are at present getting
higher than the one prescribed by the Wage Board, was silent on current wages
that are lower. That advantage ( that is the workers have negotiated with managements
for wages lower than the ones prescribed by the wage board,) has been knocked
out and can no longer be advanced before any authority to deny Board scales and
benefits. Even so called signed agreement with the workers accepting lower
wages “voluntarily” loses any legal or other value. The worker has won in this
long drawn controversy about worker “consent” to exploit him. A huge set back
for managements like that of Jagran where workers refusing to sign their own
death warrant have been victimised in many different ways for decades.
The June 19 order
has been criticized by some saying that it does not specify how benefits due
under Majithia can be obtained from employers. Also some of the controversies
have not been clarified like whether DA should be on the new salaries minus
variable pay. As for compelling managements to pay new salaries it all depends
upon the pressures the unions can exert. The Unions have been demanding many
important changes in the Act to better implement the vision that central
governments so far had held out to workers. We are facing decades of neglect on
newspapers to implement wage board awards. With renewed hopes of a still better
deal for workers from Majithia board. However, the SC cannot be expected to
give you tools as well. Journalist members with non-journalists beside them
must make unions strong enough to force employers to implement for what law and
the courts have given them. It is some strong and persistent unions and their
leaders have made the Majithia boards a stunning reality.
R RAJENDRA PRABHU,
CONVENOR, WAGE BOARD
MB 9811274594
National Union of
Journalists (India)
#MajithiaWageBoardsSalary,
MajithiaWageBoardsSalary, Majithia Wage Boards Salary
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