IFJ Welcomes New Wage Scales in India’s Newspaper Industry

October 26, 2011

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) welcomes the formal approval on October 25 by India’s Union Cabinet of the recommendations of the G.R. Majithia Wage Boards for Journalists and Non-Journalists, which prepares the ground for an all-round increase in wages for newspaper workers before the end of the year.

The formal notification of the new wage scales is expected by November 1.

“The IFJ congratulates its partners and affiliates in India, at the successful conclusion of one phase of their struggle for better wages and working conditions,” IFJ Asia-Pacific Director Jacqueline Park said.

“We now look forward to the full implementation of the Wage Boards’ recommendations by all newspaper establishments.”

The two Wage Boards were constituted under India’s Working Journalists’ Act in 2007 under Narayana Kurup, a retired judge of the High Court of Kerala, who left his post after finalising an interim report. G.R. Majithia, a retired judge of the Chandigarh High Court, took over as chairman in 2009. The final reports of the Wage Boards were submitted on December 31, 2010.

Since then, some prominent media houses have filed a petition before the Supreme Court claiming that the statutory pay fixation process for newspaper industry workers is a serious infringement of constitutional guarantees of a free press. The main industry lobby, the Indian Newspaper Society (INS) has joined the campaign, claiming that the Wage Boards’ recommendations would be a serious blow to the finances of both large and small newspapers.

India’s main newspaper unions, including IFJ affiliates, the Indian Journalists’ Union, the All-India Newspaper Employees’ Federation and the National Union of Journalists of India, believe that the substantive points made in the newspaper industry petition have already been dealt with and found to be without merit by the Supreme Court.

The record of compliance with wage board recommendations in the past has been poor and larger newspaper groups have been inducing journalists to move towards short-term contractual employment, rather than the permanent appointments mandated by the Working Journalists’ Act.

A sub-committee of the Press Council of India (PCI) which inquired into the “paid news” or “cash for coverage” abuse, found in April 2010 that insecurity of employment was contributing to an erosion of quality and reliability of news, since it made journalists more susceptible to the pressures of advertising departments.

The report which was substantially abridged under pressure from the newspaper industry, was published in full on the website of the PCI early this month, following a directive issued under the Right to Information Act.

“It is clear that the guarantees of fair wages and decent working conditions that India’s Working Journalists’ Act holds out, serve an important purpose in safeguarding press freedom,” Park said.

“We call upon the newspaper industry to cease obstruction and implement the new wage award in full without further delay.”

ENDS

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