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Bangalore, Nov. 1 Workers’ strike at Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting’s Mysore factory over wages continued for the fifth day after a tripartite meeting with the management and the Karnataka Labour Department failed to yield results.

The Assistant Labour Commissioner who initiated the talks has now posted the reconciliation meeting for November 3. About 300 workers, including permanent workers, contract labourers and casual workers, had struck work since October 27 over a wage dispute.

The workers were demanding a wage hike of Rs 5,000 a month. Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting is part of the software services company Wipro Ltd.

Mr H.V. Anantha Subbarao, State General Secretary of the All India Trade Union Congress, which the workers’ union is affiliated to, said the union had also sought pay increase once in three years, effective May this year. The union had given a two months’ notice to the management before going on strike, he added.

A spokesperson for Wipro Ltd said the management wanted to sign a four-year settlement and is also open to discussions as soon as the strike ends.

Mr Subbarao said the management has offered to increase wages only by Rs 1,000 per month, “which is not acceptable to the workers”.

Currently, the average monthly wages are about Rs 3,000, he said, adding that the workers would scale down their demand, “provided the management was also willing to up their offer”.

The timing of the strike is significant, considering that the festive season is when the demand for lighting products is generally at its peak. About 24 million general bulbs, 7.5 million tubelights and six million CFL bulbs are produced in the eight-year-old Mysore unit.

More Stories on : Trade & Labour Unions | Electrical Goods

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