Centre considering amending Minimum Wages Act

NEW DELHI: The Centre is considering amending the Minimum Wages Act to make punishment for violators of the law more stringent and favours enactment of a statute for providing social security protection to workers in the unorganised sector, Labour Minister Sharad Yadav said on Thursday.
Presiding over the Central Advisory Board meeting to consider removal of disparity in minimum wages, Yadav said this was necessary as workers in the unorganised sector were easily vulnerable to social and economic exploitation.
He said non-payment or under-payment of legitimate minimum wages was one of the major reasons behind poverty in the country.
The labour minister said he has recently written to all states to ensure that the minimum wages for the scheduled employments were not fixed below the minimum floor level wage.