Thousands of striking steel factory workers in Delhi’s Wazirpur industrial area called off their 22-day strike after reaching an agreement with the owners.

The workers, most of whom are migrants, have been on strike since June 6. They met the factory owners at the Deputy Labour Commissioner’s office late on Friday.

Owners of all the factories have accepted to implement the eight-hour workday, double the rate of overtime, minimum wages, ESI, and provident fund for the workers of Wazirpur, said a release by Garam Rolla Mazdoor Ekta Samiti, which had spearheaded the strike.

“Almost all the basic labour laws have been enforced in this negotiation,” said Sunny Singh​, a member of the Samiti.

The workers are engaged in ancillary units such as cold-rollers, steel pickling units, shearing and machine-pressers in 23 factories in Wazirpur​, which make steel utensils​.

Last week, they held a protest at Janta​r​ Mantar, highlighting the hazardous conditions of work, some times without protective gear, and had been demanding a wage hike, job security, reduction in work hours and health insurance, as hot-rolling is a high-risk job.

Raghuraj, another member of the Samiti said that the Deputy Labour Commissioner, had assured them that officials from the labour department would conduct surprise inspections throughout the month to ensure implementation of eight-hour workday and payment of wages.

A statement by the labour department said Joint Labour Commissioner KR Verma and Deputy Labour Commissioner (North-West district) UK Sinha had taken cognisance of the matter and after a prolonged conciliation proceeding, a settlement was made between the representatives of the management and the workers.

Jai Kumar Bansal and O.P Tiwari represented the factory owners while Raghuraj and Shivani, a legal consultant to the Samiti signed the memorandum of settlement.

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