Report by a Mazdoor Ekta Committee Correspondent
Mazdoor Ekta Committee (MEC) organized a public meeting on October 3, 2026, in the Okhla Industrial Area Phase-2, South Delhi. The theme of the meeting was: “Fight for a wage that ensures a dignified life!”
For the past three months, Mazdoor Ekta Committee has been conducting a vigorous campaign advocating for a wage that allows for a dignified life. Through this campaign, workers are being made aware of their rights. Thousands of leaflets were distributed, and numerous street-corner meetings were held as part of the initiative.
The venue was adorned with banners and placards displaying the workers’ demands: “Intensify the struggle to protect our livelihood and rights!”, “We demand secure employment and a life of dignity!”, “Repeal the four anti-worker labour codes!”, “Step up the fight against inflation and unemployment!”, and “Punish the criminal employers who fail to pay the minimum wage!”
Factory workers, IT workers, garment workers, women workers, youth, and members of the e-rickshaw union participated in the meeting. Many participants also became members of Mazdoor Ekta Committee during the event.
Comrade Dharmendra Kumar conducted the proceedings of the public meeting.
Comrade Santosh Kumar, a speaker from Mazdoor Ekta Committee, explained that a wage sufficient for a dignified life means an income that enables a worker’s family not merely to survive, but to access nutritious food, proper housing, quality education for their children, and medical treatment during illness.
However, the reality today is that the vast majority of workers in Delhi do not even receive the minimum wage. Capitalist owners are looting approximately ₹20 billion from Delhi’s 4.6 million workers by paying them less than the minimum wage. The lives of these workers have become hellish.
They explained that capitalists attempt to create a division between manual and mental laborers. However, Mazdoor Ekta Committee (MEC) maintains that anyone who earns a living by selling their labor, whether physical or mental, is a worker. This includes helpers, cleaners, pilots, drivers, accountants, supervisors, managers, engineers, teachers, doctors, and computer operators, as well as those working for platforms like Blinkit, Ola, Uber, and Flipkart.
In conclusion, they stated that in the 21st century, a worker’s needs are not limited merely to food, clothing, and shelter. Quality education, healthcare, electricity, water, transport, and access to mobile phones and the internet are also fundamental necessities of life. The minimum wage required to live with dignity should be ₹42,000, a demand raised by all workers’ organizations across India.
They called for transforming the economic struggle for wages into a political one. The fight for wages must be intensified to the point where politicians are compelled to raise the demand in the Legislative Assembly and Parliament.
Several participants at the meeting also shared their views. Another MEC activist remarked that the capitalist system has pushed the country’s workers to the brink of starvation. Governments serving the capitalists may come and go, but the capitalists’ agenda of plunder continues unabated. Many young workers also described the horrible conditions faced by factory workers in Delhi and emphasized the need to intensify the struggle for a wage that ensures a dignified life. An inspiring poem aimed at awakening the workers was presented, infusing the gathering with great enthusiasm.
A memorandum on behalf of Delhi’s workers was presented at the meeting and unanimously adopted; this memorandum is to be submitted to Delhi’s Labour Minister. It demanded a guaranteed minimum wage of ₹42,000 per month for all workers and called for jail terms for employers who violate this norm. The demands included ensuring equal pay for equal work, abolishing the contract labour system, and providing all workers with regular employment alongside social security benefits such as overtime pay, ESI, PF, and old-age pensions. A warning was issued to the Delhi government that the agitation would be intensified if these demands were not addressed promptly.
The meeting concluded with spirited slogans.