COMPENSATITION MANAGEMENT
LESSON 9:
INTRODUCTION TO MINIMUM, FAIR AND LIVING WAGE
Learning Objective
• To know the concept of Statutory, Bare or Basic Minimum
Wage
• To understand Fair Wage
• To understand Living Wage
• The Need-Based Minimum Wage
Some new terms have gained currency in India after indepen-
dence. There are:
Statutory Minimum Wage
It is the wage determined according to the procedure prescribed
by the relevant provisions of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948.
Once the rates of such wages are fixed, it is the obligation of
the employer to pay them, regardless of his ability to pay. Such
wages are required to be fixed in certain employments where
“sweated” labour is prevalent, or where there is a great chance of
exploitation of labour.
Bare or Basic Minimum Wage
It is the wage, which is to be fixed in accordance with the awards
and judicial pronouncements of Industrial Tribunals, National
Tribunals and Labour Courts. They are obligatory on the
employers.
Minimum wage, and fair wage and living wage are the terms
used by The Report of the Committee on Fair Wages, set up by
the Government in 1948 to determine the principles on which
fair wages should be based and to suggest how these principles
should be applied. According to this Committee, the minimum
wage should represent the lower limit of a fair wage. The next
higher level is the fair wage, and the highest level of the fair
wage is the living wage.
A Minimum Wage
It has been defined by the Committee as “the wage, which
must provide not only for the bare sustenance of life, but for
the preservation of the efficiency of the worker. For this
purpose, the minimum wage must provide for some measure
of education, medical requirements and amenities.”
In other words, a minimum wage should provide for the
sustenance of the worker’s family, for his efficiency, for the
education of his family, for their medical care and for some
amenities.
The question of determining the minimum wage is a very
difficult one for more than one reason. Conditions vary from
place to place, industry to industry and from worker to worker.
The standard of living cannot be determined accurately.
What then should be the quantum of the minimum wage?
What is the size of the family it should support?
Who should decide these questions?
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11.622.1
These issues are very difficult to decide. Moreover, since the cost
of living varies with the price level, it follows that this index
should be periodically reviewed and modified.
However, the principles for determining minimum wages were
evolved by the Government and have been incorporated in the
Minimum Wages Act, 1948, the important principle being that
minimum wages should provide not only for the bare suste-
nance of life but also for the preservation of the efficiency of
the workers by way of education, medical care and other
amenities.
Living Wage
This wage was recommended by the Committee as a fair wage
and as ultimate goal in a wage policy. It defined a Living Wage as
“one which should enable the earner to provide for himself and
his family not only the bare essentials of food, clothing and
shelter but a measure of frugal comfort, including education for
his children, protection against ill-health, requirements of
essential social needs and a measure of insurance against the
more important misfortunes, including old age.”
In other words, a living wage was to provide for a standard of
living that would ensure good health for the worker, and his
family as well as a measure of decency, comfort~ education for
his children, and protection against misfortunes. This obviously
implied a high level of living.
Such a wage was so determined by keeping in view the national
income, and the capacity to pay of an industry. The Committee
was of the opinion that although the provision of a living
wage should be the ultimate goal, the present level of national
income did not permit of the payment of a living wage on the
basis of the standards prevalent in more advanced countries.
The goal of a living wage was to be achieved in three stages. In
the first stage, the wage to be paid to the entire working class
was to be established and stabilized. In the second stage, fair
wages were to be established in the community-cum-industry.
In the third stage, the working class was to be paid the living
wage.
The living wage may be somewhere between the lowest level of
the minimum wage and the highest limit of the living wage,
depending upon the bargaining power of labour, the capacity
of the industry to pay, the level of the national income, the
general effect of the wage rise on neighboring industries, the
productivity of labour, the place of industry in the economy of
the country, and the prevailing rates of wages in the same or
similar occupations in neighboring localities.
Fair Wage
According to the Committee on Fair Wages, “it is the wage
which is above the minimum wage but below the living wage.”
The lower limit of the fair wage is obviously the minimum
wage; the upper limit is set by the “capacity of the industry to
pay.”
57
 Between these two limits, the actual wages should depend on
COMPENSATITION MANAGEMENT
considerations of such factors as:
a. The productivity of labour;
b. The prevailing rates of wages in the same or neighbouring
localities;
c. The level of the national income and its distribution; and
d. The place of industry in the economy of the country.
The Need-Based Minimum Wage
The Indian Labour Conference, at its 15th session held in July
1957, suggested that minimum, wage fixation should be need-
based, and should meet the minimum needs of an industrial
worker.
For the calculation of the minimum wage, the Conference
accepted the following norms and recommended that they
should guide all wage-fixing authorities, including the Mini-
mum Wage Committee, Wage-Boards, and adjudicators:
i. The standard working class family should be taken to
consist of 3 consumption units for the earner; the earnings
of women, children and adolescents should be disregarded;
ii. The minimum food requirements should be calculated on
the basis of the net intake of 2,700 calories, as
recommended by Dr. Akroyd, for an average Indian adult
of moderate activity.
iii. The clothing requirements should be estimated at a per
capita consumption of 18 yards per annum, which would
mean, for an average worker’s family of four, a total of 72
yards;
iv. In respect of housing, the norms should be the minimum
rent charged by the Government in any area for houses
provided under the Subsidized Housing Scheme follow-
income groups; and
v. Fuel, lighting and other miscellaneous items of expenditure
should constitute 20 per cent of the total minimum wage.
Ever since the I.L.C. made its recommendations on the need-
based minimum wage, attempts were made by several
government and private agencies and trade union organizations
to work out is monetory equivalent. These estimates have
varied considerably.
Tutorial Activity 1.1
Questions
1. What are the different types of wages?
2. What is the difference between minimum wage, living wage
and fair wage?
3. What do you understand by the term need-based
minimum wage and explain the importance of it in
compensation management?
4. Identify an organization, study it’s compensation package
and find out the kind of wage level offered by it to it’s
employees.
Tutorial Activity 1.2
Now let us study from the notification below “The minimum
wages notified by the Government of Madhya Pradesh” and
the employees covered under it.
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58
Labour Bureau
Government of
India
Report
Onevaluation studies on
implementation of The minimum
wages act, 1948
In bidi making establishments in
Madhya pradesh
Wages, Earnings and Hours of Work
5.1 Introduction
5.1.1 The Minimum Wages Act, 1948 is both a protective and
beneficial legislation guaranteeing the payment of minimum
rates of wages to the workers in the various Scheduled Employ-
ments scattered over different parts of the country. Although
the Act does not provide for registration of establishments, yet
it is applicable to employments where the workers are particu-
larly vulnerable to exploitation, due to ignorance, poverty,
illiteracy and lack of bargaining power.
The workers in bidi industry are scattered over large areas and
do not have collective bargaining power. Therefore, they are in
need of protection. The Act empowers both the Central and
the State Governments to fix and revise the minimum rates of
wages in the Scheduled Employments falling under their
respective jurisdictions.
The bidi making establishments fall under the Scheduled
Employment “Tobacco” (including Bidi Making) Manufacto-
ries’ in the State Sphere. Therefore, the responsibility for
implementation of the provisions of the Minimum Wages Act,
1948 rests with the State Governments. They notify the
minimum wages for bidi workers within their jurisdiction.
5.1.2 In Madhya Pradesh, the rates of minimum wages for
Bidi Rollers are fixed on a piece rate basis (number of bidis
rolled), the traditional measure being per thousand bidis.
However, fixation and revision of minimum wages is of no
consequence unless these are actually paid to them.
The problems of the bidi workers continue to be a cause of
concern for the labour administrators and enforcement
authorities as the workers often complain of the unfair
treatment at the hands of manufacturers, Contractors and
agents in matters of rejection of finished products, issue of
inadequate quantity and poor quality of raw material (tendu
leaves, tobacco, thread, etc.) as well as the violation of the
provisions of the Bidi and Cigar Workers (Conditions of
Employment) Act, 1966, the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 and
the Equal Remuneration Act, 1976.
The Regional Labour Ministers Conference held during 1994-95
had endorsed the recommendations of the Ministry of Labour
for the Constitution of a Tripartite Standardisation and District
Level Vigilance Committee and had made the following
recommendations in respect of bidi workers:-
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The minimum quantity of raw material to be issued should be In bidi making industry all the time-rated (monthly/daily paid)

COMPENSATITION MANAGEMENT
800 grams of tendu leaf of standard average quality and 300 workers other than the above mentioned piece rated categories
grams of tobacco for 1000 bidis of standard size. have been classified into three broad categories as Skilled, Semi-
The wage loss due to rejection should not be more than 2.5 skilled and Unskilled workers.
percent instead of 5 percent. The occupations’ which comprise these three skill catego-
Alternatively, the rejected bidis should be returned to workers ries are as under: -
after deducting proportionate cost of tendu leaf and tobacco
issued to them at the rates to be fixed by the State Govern- 1. Skilled : Driver (Heavy Vehicle), Accountant,
Munim, Cashier, Store Keeper, Head Clerk,
ments from time to time alongwith wages. Godown keeper
The State Governments as well as Welfare Commissioners have 2.Semi-Skilled : Sorter/Checker, Bhattiwala, Driver (Light
been requested to give wide publicity to the statutory provisions Vehicle), Typist, Billman, Clerk
of the Bidi and Cigar Workers (Conditions of Employment) 3.Unskilled: Loader, Un-loader, Puda Maker and
Act, 1966, pertaining to rejection of not more than 2.5 percent Chowkidar.
bidis of sub-standard quality and ensure that employer/
Contractor supplies tendu leaf of the optimum quality to the Prescribed rates of Minimum Wages (including V.D.A.) for
workers. * time rated employees were as below:
* Annual Report 1999-2000, Ministry of Labour, Government Sl. No. Skill Category Monthly Daily Wages
of India, Wages (Rs.) (Rs.)
1. Skilled 1995.44 76.75
5.2 Prescribed Rates of Minimum Wages
2. Semi-Skilled 1828.30 70.32
‘Tobacco (including bidi making) Manufactories’ is a Scheduled 3. Unskilled. 1662.80 63.95
Employment originally included in Part-I of the Schedule
appended to the Act. The minimum wages applicable to the N.B.- The wages include the variable dearness allowance.
bidi workers at the time of the Study were notified by the State 5.2.1 These wages have been linked to 1206 points of the
Government of Madhya Pradesh as provided under Section Labour Bureau Series of All-India Consumer Price Index
3(1)(b) and Section 5 of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948.Prior to Numbers for Industrial Workers (Base 1960=100).The Variable
1953, Minimum Wages were fixed at Re. 0.62 to Rs. 1.37 per Dearness Allowance (VDA) is payable at the rate of 1 paisa per
thousand bidis. point for an increase of 930 points over 1206 points upto
These wages were revised to Rs. 2.00-2.25 for the first time in 30.09.2001.
1966.Since then they have been revised several times. The latest 5.2.2 The revised rates of minimum wages are subject to the
wage revision, which was in force at the time of the study, had following conditions:-
become effective from 1st October, 2000 vide notification No.
1/9/A/5/97/32759-33288 dated 12-10-2000. The variable dearness allowances shall be calculated on 1st
October of every year on the basis of the average indices for
The minimum rates of wages for various categories of twelve months i.e., July to June of the preceding year.
employees in Tobacco (including Bidi Making) Manufactories
appearing in Part I of the Schedule were linked to the Con- The revised rates of daily wages are to be worked out by
sumer Price Index Numbers (Industrial Workers).The revised dividing the monthly rates by 26 days.
rates of minimum wages applicable during the period of study Wherever the prevailing wages are higher, the revised wages will
are given below:- not have adverse effect on any employee in any case and the
higher rates shall continue to be paid.
An employee shall be entitled to a guaranteed minimum wage
Prescribed Minimum rates ofWages for piece rated employees
Class of Employees Minimum Wages ( in Rs.) of Rs.178.00 in case the employer fails to supply sufficient
1. Bidi Rolling 36.17(per thousand bidis) quantity of raw material for rolling 5600 bidis per week.
2. Wrapping/Packing/Labelling Rs. 19.65 per thousand bundles
(a) Pasting of Slips on bidi bundles Rs. 22.00 perthousand bundles The guaranteed wage will include the actual number of bidis
(i) Labelling, Puda Making etc. Rs. 15.85 per thousand bundles made by an employee during a week from the raw material
(ii) Labelling on both sides of bundles Rs. 11.26 per thousand bundles supplied to him.
(b) Wrapping and Labelling Rs.4.76 per thousand bundles
(i) Thin paper labelling Rs.5.01 perthousand bundles An employee shall not be entitled to the guaranteed wages if he
(ii)Thin paper sticking Rs. 68.35 perlakh bidis
(iii)Labelling Rs. 81.05 perlakh bidis fails to make full use of the raw material supplied to him while
(iv)Puda Making Rs. 81.05 per lakh bidis the raw material so supplied is sufficient for rolling 5600 bidis
( c) Wrapping on 1000 bundle (each per week.
bundle of 25 bidis)
(i) Wrapping of Horizontal & Vertical In case an employer fails to supply raw material due to certain
Strips conditions like fire, distress, epidemic etc., which are not under
(ii)Wrapping/Pasting of paper
(iii)Wrapping and Pasting of Trade Mark his control, an employee shall not be entitled to the guaranteed
wages.

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11.622.1 59
 5.3 Mode of Payment 5.4 Wage Period
COMPENSATITION MANAGEMENT

5.3.1 Section 3(2) of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 5.4.1 Section 3 (3b) of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948
empowers the Appropriate Governments to fix the minimum provides for different wage periods ranging from hour to
rates of wages either for time rated work or for piece-rated month. The minimum wages notified by the Government of
work. In bidi making establishments employers have adopted Madhya Pradesh for different types of operations were either
both the systems of payment of wages i.e., ‘time rate’ and time rated or piece rated. The wage periods adopted by the bidi
‘piece rate’. Wages for bidi rolling, wrapping, packing and manufacturers for different categories of employees covered by
labelling operations are paid on ‘piece rate basis’ while those in the study are presented in Table 5.3.
all other operations on ‘time rate basis’.The stratum-wise Table 5.3 Percentage Distribution of Bidi Employees
system of payments is shown in Table 5.1. According to Wage-periods
Table 5.1 Percentage Distribution of Employees by
Stratum and System of Payments Sl. No. Categories of Employees Percentage of Employees paid
Monthly Weekly Total
1 Wrapper/Labeller/Packer 100.0 - 100.0
Sl. No. Stratum/ District Percentage of employees paid on 2 Taraiwala (Sorter)/ 100.0 - 100.0
the basis of Checker
Time-rate Piece-rate 3 Furnaceman (Bhattiwala) 100.0 - 100.0
1 Stratum I 16.0 84.0 4 Clerk 100.0 - 100.0
Sagar 5. Raw Material Distributor 100.0
2 Stratum II 17.4 82.6 6 Bidi Roller - 100.0 100.0
Jabalpur, Satna All Categories 26.5 73.5 100.0
3 Stratum III 19.2 80.8
Gwalior, Datiya and Vidisha
4 Stratum IV 24.1 75.9 5.4.2 It will be seen from the Table that all the factory workers
Balaghat and office staff viz., Wrappers, Labellers, Raw Material Distribu-
5 Stratum V 20.8 79.2
Bhopal, Indore, Devas,
tors, and Clerical Staff, etc., were paid on monthly basis.On the
Ujjain& Hoshangabad other hand all the Bidi Rollers were paid on weekly basis.
All Strata 18.5 81.5 As such the overall proportion of bidi employees paid on
weekly basis worked out to 73.5 percent, as against 26.5 percent
5.3.2 It is evident from the Table that major proportion (81.5 of other workers who were receiving wages on monthly basis.It
percent) of employees were paid on piece rate basis and only was observed that in operations like bidi rolling, wages were
18.5 percent were paid on time rate basis. The proportion of calculated on the basis of daily production and payments were
employees paid on piece rate basis in different Strata oscillated made on weekly basis or adjusted on a monthly basis.
between 84.0 percent and 75.9 percent the former being in It was also observed that because of these adjustments after a
Stratum I and the later in Stratum IV. week or a month, the Bidi Rollers did not have a clear idea
Inter-stratum variation was attributed to the fact that Stratum-I about their actual earnings.
was the largest bidi producing area dominated by the smaller 5.5 Hours of Work
establishments of agents and middlemen engaged in getting The working hours in the Scheduled Employment ‘Tobacco
the bidis rolled for passing on to bigger or Trade Mark Estab- (including Bidi Making) Manufactories’ are governed by the Bidi
lishments for wrapping, packing and marketing. and Cigar Workers (Conditions of Employment) Act, 1966.The
5.3.3 The category-wise system of payment of wages is given Act restricts the hours of work to nine per day and forty eight
in Table 5.2.It will be seen from the Table that all the Bidi per week with a maximum spread over of 10.30 hours per day.
Rollers, Packers, Labellers and Wrappers were paid on piece rate Under the Act no employee can be made to work beyond five
basis.All other workers, like,Sorters, Furnace Men, Raw Material hours without a rest interval of at least half an hour. An adult
Distributors, Clerks, etc., were paid on time rate basis. employee can work in excess of the prescribed hours of work
Table 5.2 Percentage Distribution of Bidi Employees by subject to the payment of over time wage rate. However, the
their Categories and by the System of Payments: period of work should not exceed 10 hours in a day and 54
hours in a week, inclusive of overtime work.
Sl. No. Categories of Employees Percentage of Employees The payment for overtime work has to be made at twice the
paid on the basis of
ordinary rate of the wages or the average daily full time earnings
Time-rate Piece-rate
1. Wrapper/Labeller/Packer - 100.0
in case of piece rate workers. The Minimum Wages Act, 1948 on
2. Taraiwala (Sorter)/Checker 100.0 - the other hand only provides for fixation of normal hours of
3. Furnaceman (Bhattiwala) 100.0 - work, a weekly day of rest and payment of overtime wages in
4. Clerk 100.0 - the Scheduled Employments by appropriate Government.
5. Raw Material Distributor 100.0 - However, all these and similar provisions of the Act are of little
6. Bidi Roller - 100.0 consequence to a major proportion of the employees in this
All Categories 18.5 81.5 industry comprised of a sizeable number of Bidi Rollers who
roll bidis within the four walls of their houses.

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60 11.622.1
These home workers do not have any prescribed hours of work 5.6.2.2 The above table reveals that the average daily earnings

as they roll bidis as and when they are free from their domestic
chores. The premises/factory workers, however, are the real
beneficiaries of these provisions. As far as the Trade Mark
Establishments and the medium sized establishments are
concerned, the provisions of the Act, relating to hours of work,
rest interval, weekly holidays, etc. were being implemented. The
time rated employees were usually working as Clerks, Raw
Material Distributors, Taraiwalas, etc.
5.6 Wages and Earnings
1.6.1 During the course of Study, it was observed that although
the big manufacturers were keeping records of the wages paid
to premises workers and the Bidi Rollers who were directly
employed by them, yet the records for Bidi Rollers engaged by
the Contractors were not maintained correctly as they showed
only production.As the payments were made through Contrac-
tors, there were, therefore, chances of exploitation of the Bidi
Rollers at the behest of the former.
1.6.2 The employees in bidi making industry constitute a
heterogeneous lot with various categories of bidi workers on
the one extreme and the Bidi Rollers (home workers) engaged
either directly or through the Contractors on the other.The
dependants of the home workers rendering effective assistance
in rolling bidis constitute a large segment of Bidi Rollers who
could not be treated as employees for want of an established
employer-employee relationship.
Hence for properly analysing the earnings of the Bidi Rollers
(home workers), it is necessary to identify and isolate the
contribution of this hidden segment of Bidi Rollers.During
the study, an effort was made to separate the estimated earnings
of these workers from those of the registered or the identified
Bidi Rollers.
5.6.2 Bidi Workers
5.6.2.1 The bidi workers constituted 26.5 per cent of the
employees covered by the Study. Average daily earnings of
different categories of bidi workers are given in Table 5.4.
Table 5.4 Average Daily Earnings of Bidi Workers (in
Rupees)
COMPENSATITION MANAGEMENT
of Clerks were Rs. 89.32 per day, far above the prescribed wages
in the Trade Mark Establishments, in keeping with the require-
ments of management and responsibilities assigned to
them.For the purpose of the study, Managers have been
clubbed with the clerks because wages had not been notified for
the managerial staff.
The average daily earnings of Clerks worked out to be the
highest (Rs.122.60) in Stratum III and the lowest (Rs.76.71 per
day) in Stratum II.Overall average daily earnings of Raw
Material Distributors and Furnacemen worked out to Rs. 61.62
and Rs. 67.96 respectively.The average earnings of Raw Material
Distributors were the lowest (Rs.57.69 per day) in Stratum III
which were attributed to low wage paid areas of Datiya and
Vidisha dominated by Contractors, Sattedars and Sub-Contrac-
tors.
They were not only distributing raw materials but also were
actively involved in collecting the bidis.Surprisingly, a system of
obtaining commission from the Bidi Rollers by the Sattedars to
compensate the low wages paid to them by the Trade Mark
Establishments and Contractors was in vogue.For piece rated
workers viz., Wrappers/Labellers/Packers the average daily
earnings worked out to Rs.62.33.
5.6.3 Bidi Rollers and Helpers
5.6.3.1 In Madhya Pradesh Bidi Rollers constituted the largest
segment among the bidi employees. They collected the raw
material from the Employers or Contractors and rolled the
bidis in their dwellings. They get a lot of assistance from their
family members in rolling bidis.
It is a fact that most of these helping dependants, who were
skilled rollers, did not have registration in any bidi factory as the
manufactures avoided registration of a large number of Bidi
Rollers to evade the fringe benefits due to them .The employers
met their requirements of daily production by giving huge
amounts of raw material to the registered Bidi Rollers for
rolling bidis with the help of their dependants. The average
daily earnings of the Bidi Rollers and their helping dependants
are given in Table 5.5.

Sl. Categories Average daily earnings in

No. Stratum-I Stratum-II Stratum-III Stratum-IV Stratum V All Strata
1 Wrapper, Labeller, 63.69 66.64 62.67 65.22 50.53 62.33
Packers.
2 Taraiwala/Sorter/ 69.29 72.89 51.83 85.17 69.98 68.98
Checker
3 Furnaceman 67.93 68.29 66.62 67.13 68.89 67.96
(Bhattiwala)
4. Raw Material 63.96 65.23 57.69 - 61.11 61.62
Distributor
5 Clerk 89.82 76.71 122.60 80.40 86.54 89.32
All Categories 71.31 69.36 69.08 75.14 65.23 69.36

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 Table 5.5 Average Daily Earnings of Bidi Rollers and The Bidi Rollers did not get regular employment in bidi making
COMPENSATITION MANAGEMENT

their Helping Dependants(in Rupees) establishments also.They had always remained an exploited lot
in the hands of petty Contractors who did not even keep the
records and registers of the Bidi Rollers.The employment
Sl. No. Average daily earnings of
opportunities in agriculture had also not been encouraging
Stratum/ District Bidi Rollers Helping Overall enough for the Bidi Rollers to lean on.
Dependants
5.6.3.3 The above table also reveals that the average daily
1 Stratum I 20.36 14.21 17.77
Sagar
earnings of the registered Bidi Rollers were substantially higher
2 Stratum II 24.76 19.52 22.31 than their helping dependants in all the Strata except Stratum
Jabalpur,, Satna
IV where it was marginally higher. It shows that these helping
3 Stratum III 26.16 20.99 23.76
Gwalior, Datiya and Vidisha dependants of Bidi Rollers made a significant contribution
4 Stratum IV 18.88 17.17 18.01 towards the production of the bidi industry, yet they consti-
Balaghat
5 Stratum V 20.46 14.66 18.00 tuted a neglected lot, deprived of the benefits of various labour
Bhopal, Indore, Devas, laws. With the modern salesmanship entering the bidi industry
Ujjain&Hoshangabad
All Strata 22.04 16.62 17.88
the margin of profit in the bidi industry is quite lucrative for the
brands established in the market. There is, therefore, an urgent
need for bringing this hidden work force under the labour laws
EXHIBIT – 8 with a well defined employer-employee relationship for effective
enforcement of the minimum wage legislation.

Average Daily Earnings of Bidi Rollers and their

Helping Dependants (Table 5.5)

5.6.3.2 It emerges from the Table that in all the five Strata the
wages paid were below the prescribed wage levels. The average
daily earnings of the Bidi Rollers worked out to Rs. 22.04 per
day. The average daily earnings were highest in Stratum III (Rs.
26.16 per day) followed by Stratum II (Rs. 24.76 per day),
Stratum V (Rs. 20.46 per day), Stratum I (Rs. 20.36 per day) and
the lowest in Stratum IV (Rs.18.88 per day).
In Stratum III the highest average daily earnings of Bidi Rollers
were attributed to the non-availability of Bidi Rollers ( whose
average daily earnings were lower than those of Bidi Workers) in
the districts of Gwalior, Datiya and Vidisha where the average
daily employment in the establishments was the lowest.
Moreover, in the absence of any trade unions the Bidi Rollers
were not strong enough to bargain for the prescribed wages.
The other important reasons for low earnings were malpractices
in matters of rejection of finished bidis on the ground of not
conforming to quality standards, issue of inadequate quantity
and poor quality of tendu leaf and tobacco by the employers or
their Contractors or agents.The workers in these areas accepted
whatever wages the employers gave.

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62 11.622.1