CNNAEO urges Centre to set up new wage boards

Hyderabad, Nov 25 (UNI) The second annual conference of the Confederation of Newspaper and News Agency Employees Organisations (CNNAEO) today urged the Centre to constitute new wage boards for journalists and non-journalists.

Addressing the conference, Confederation General Secretary M S Yadav pointed out that the existing wages in the newspaper industry were fixed by the Rajkumar Manisana Singh Wage Board in 1994. During this long period, the economic conditions in the country had radically changed and the wages fixed had been greatly eroded, thus deteriorated the condition of employees from bad to worse.

On the other hand, the newspaper employers made a future during the last 14 years as a result of globalisation and liberalisation.

The Confederation was of the firm opinion that the newspaper employees were not seeking wage revision by way of any favour.

According to Mr Yadav the Confederation strongly opposed entry of international finance in the Indian print media through the mode of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).

Referring to ''illegal and arbitrary'' sacking of 362 permanent employees by a leading New Delhi-based daily, Mr Yadav said if this trend was allowed to go unresisted, this could set a pattern for entire economy and embolden all employers to turn the country's labour laws into a ''mockery''. The management of the daily did this by forming a wholly-owned subsidiary without a change of ownership, he added.

Recalling the efforts of the Confederation to ensure justice for the sacked employees of the daily, he asserted that the Confederation would be committed to the cause of these employees till they attained victory.

He opposed the game of employers to deprive employees of their legitimate legal rights of wages, bonus, gratuity and other benefits under the labour laws and to create a new section of employees whose terms and conditions of service were not linked with permanent employees of the newspaper industry.

UNI SM GKT PKS RK1918