Over 800 Central Railway employees from the Mumbai division have not been paid salaries for the month of May. The worker’s union has alleged that lack of transport had made it difficult for them to report to work for which they were denied their salaries.
The railway authorities have now claimed that the workers are trying to take advantage of the lockdown. However, the union has asserted that most of the employees live in the suburbs and could not reach work due to unavailability of transport. The union has further written a letter to the general manager of the Central Railways asking for casual leave for the month in lockdown.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court reserved its decision on pleas challenging Centre's March 29 petition asking employers to pay full wages to employees for the lockdown period. The Centre informed the Supreme Court that in its March 29 notification on full payment of wages to workers by their employers during the lockdown was not unconstitutional. The Centre further added that it was a measure taken to prevent the stimulation of the financial crisis within the lower strata of the society, labourers and salaried employees.
The extended lockdown period has hit the labourers and the daily wage workers the worst. In India, there are many with precarious jobs. The number is far higher than is commonly believed to be the case. As per the recent labour statistics, 25 per cent of rural households and 12 per cent of urban households depend on casual labour as their main source of income. Casual labour was defined as a person who was engaged in a job that is not fixed or structured, but in a casual manner in another person's enterprise and, in return, was paid daily or sometimes periodically. Another sector hit by the lockdown is the people who are self-employed. Most of the self-employed people in the urban areas are solo workers who work 55-56 hours a week which has now completely stopped.
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