A section of sugar mill workers alleging wage disparity has urged Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to make a statement under Rule 110 on the floor of the Legislative Assembly to resolve the long-pending issue, reported The Hindu.
As per the news report, Pugazhendi, a member of the Tamil Nadu All Cooperative and Public Sector Sugar Mill Staff Peravai, Thanjavur, said that in 1985 the Commissioner of Sugar, through a government order, brought 11 posts in the sugar industry under the “Common Cadre System” (CCS). Although the CCS was abolished in 1997, employees holding these 11 posts continued to be paid according to the Government Pattern of Wages, unlike other categories of workers who were governed by the Central Non-Statutory Sugar Wage Board or settlement wage pattern.
In 2015, while disposing of cases related to wage parity, a single-judge Bench of the Madras High Court directed the Commissioner of Sugar and the managements of all sugar mills to eliminate the wage disparity by raising the wages of non-CCS employees to match those of the 11 former CCS posts, with effect from April 1, 2003. The court had ordered compliance within two months.
The officials, however, filed an appeal against the 2015 order, which was dismissed by the Madras High Court in 2024. Subsequently, the officials and the management of a cooperative sugar mill filed a review petition last year, which is still pending before the court.
In view of the prolonged delay, the Peravai has appealed to the Chief Minister to make an appropriate announcement under Rule 110 in the Legislative Assembly to bring a final resolution to the long-standing wage disparity in sugar mills, Pugazhendi said.
