Link wages to cost of living: Indian minister
Wednesday, 23 January 2008, 17:14 IST   |    1 Comments
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Abu Dhabi: India on Tuesday called for the introduction in the Gulf region of a widely accepted international norm of linking the wage structure of overseas workers to the cost of living in the respective countries. "The rising costs of living combined with fall in the value of the dollar has severely eroded the real wages that an overseas worker receives," Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi said here. Ravi was speaking at the fourth ministerial consultation on overseas employment and contractual labour for countries of origin and destination in Asia. "This has placed considerable stress on workers of all nationalities. There is an urgent need to introduce a widely accepted international norm for linking the wages structure to the cost of living," the Indian minister said. This was among the four specific areas of cooperation between labour sending and labour receiving countries, according to the minister. Ravi said labour laws in Gulf countries do not cover a large number of workers in the Gulf who work in farms and households. "It is imperative that labour law protection is extended to them to ensure their protection and welfare," he said. There are around five million expatriate Indians in the Gulf. The minister also called for the rationalisation and simplification of the instruments for legal entry of workers. "Sponsorship based work entry requirement need to be re-examined to make them transparent and equitable. It should not be the case that the worker who enters legally is rendered an illegal on the basis of a unilateral withdrawal of sponsorship by the employer." Ravi also called for the establishment of a credible and effective joint consultative mechanism at the level of a firm that employs such workers as well as between the diplomatic missions and the local government for effective redressal of grievances of workers. Delegations from 21 countries participated in the two-day conference.
Source: IANS
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