ADILABAD: Beedi workers in the state are gearing up to go on another strike demanding the government to solve their long pending problems. “We are preparing to go on a strike in a day or two. We will intensify our protests in Hyderabad and compell the government to react to our woes,” said Indian Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU) district general secretary K Rajanna, speaking to Express, on Friday. According to sources, trade unions and workers are planning to protest against the Beedi factories’ managements for violating GO 41 which looks into the welfare of beedi workers. Sources said the the managements are not ready to hike the wages of workers as they had already increased it from Rs 80 for rolling 1000 beedis to `130. The wages are far worse in neigbouring states. in Tamil Nadu, a worker is paid `116.30 for rolling 1000 beedis while his counterparts in Maharashtra and Karnataka are paid `113.81 and `118.34. According to B Poasani, a beedi worker from Sonpet village of Nirmal, she has been waiting for the government to hike the wages for the past 11 years but there has been no action with this regard. “Our wages are lower than that of farm labourers. Specially, for women beedi workers, the situation is worse as we do not get a maternity leave,” she rued. Moreover, if we are given 1000 leaves to roll beedis, 200 of them are not fit for rolling but the management expects 1000 beedis. “While we toil with a staff crunch, they make crores of rupees and leave us in the lurch,” she lamented. About 8 lakh beedi workers in the state went on a indefinite strike in November 2011, demanding the government to increase their wages from `130 (for rolling 1000 beedis) to Rs1000, provide provident fund to all the workers.
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