Faridabad (Hr), Apr 14 (PTI) Workers of an automotive components manufacturing factory protested for the second day at Sarai Khawaja area here on Tuesday to press for the implementation of the minimum wage hike announced by the Haryana government last week.
According to police, 23 protesters were detained when they tried to block a road outside the Motherson Sumi factory and an FIR was registered.
Around 1,000 morning shift employees of the company gathered outside the company around 8 am and blocked the service road of the Delhi-Agra Highway.
On Monday, the factory workers had blocked the Delhi-Agra National Highway passing through Prithla village in Palwal and also in Sarai Khwaja, paralysing traffic for hours.
A protester claimed that they are being made to work 16 hours a day and are only paid Rs 11,000 per month.
"In this era of inflation, it is becoming difficult to survive on such a low salary. When we were protesting, the police chased us away with a lathi charge," the protester alleged.
Officials said the protests occurred due to a "communication gap" between workers and company management and rumours.
They directed all industries to communicate to workers that the wage hike under the government notification will be effective from April 1.
"After getting information, our team reached the spot. We convinced the employees and removed them from the road by 2 pm. We detained 23 protesters and preventive action was taken against them,' said Inspector Rakesh Kumar, SHO of Sarai Khawaja police station.
An FIR was also registered against the protesters and "we are trying to identify them", he said.
Haryana Labour Minister Anil Vij had said the decision to increase the minimum wage, which will come into effect retrospectively from April 1, was taken in a meeting of the state cabinet on April 8.
He said that the decision would directly benefit lakhs of unskilled workers in the state and improve their standard of living. The Cabinet has now approved fixing the minimum wage at Rs 15,220 per month, he added.
Noida and Gurugram have also been rocked by violent worker protests over the wage hike issue.
Protests were reported on Monday from Noida's Sector 62 and Sector 84, including at a Motherson company unit, among other places.
The Uttar Pradesh government has directed an interim hike in minimum wages across worker categories following the unrest in Noida, with revised rates coming into effect from April 1 retrospectively.