Trade unions seek hike in budget allocation for MGNREGA

NEW DELHI: Trade unions have urged Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to take measures in the forthcoming Union budget so that the economy can be revitalised. In a letter to her, 10 major unions have sought an increased budget allocation for MGNREGA and giving workers under the scheme's ambit, the status of government employees and paying them minimum wages. They have also asked her to increase taxes on corporates and introduce wealth tax.

The unions, namely INTUC, AITUC, Hindustan Mazdoor Sabha, Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA), CITU and Labour Progressive Federation (LPF) among others, in the letter to the Finance Minister dated November 26, have also asked the government to give up plans to sell public sector enterprises, shelve the electricity amendment bill 2022 and reduce GST burden on common people, especially on fuel and essential commodities. The unions are scheduled to participate in the pre-budget consultations with the Finance Minister on Monday. However, the trade unions informed Sitharaman through a letter that they would boycott the meeting, if it is not held in physical mode. They also termed giving each union a maximum of 3 minutes to give their representations during the meeting, as a "cheap joke".

The issues put forth by them in the letter cited above, are scheduled to be raised during Monday's meeting. Meanwhile, they have also urged the Finance Minister to scrap all policies of privatization like the National Monetisation Pipeline, the new education policy and Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2022 among others, as these are bound to increase prices of the services they offer and further fuel inflation.

They have also sought restoration of the old pension scheme in place of NPS by contribution out of government kitty. "Schemes like PM Shram Yogi Mandhan Yojana, which make low paid unorganized sector workers contribute for a minimum of 20 years, are being touted as 'social security'. Please scrap such Yojanas, the contributions of which you are using for market investments."

Flagging the issue of unemployment, they said that "this issue is assuming alarming proportions". IANS

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