---
title: "Wage Freeze Crisis: 50 Lakh Workers Target Government Inaction Over 12-Year Stagnation"
url: https://projectchintan.com/article/wage-freeze-crisis-50-lakh-workers-target-government-inaction-over-12-year-stagn-kkdkw
publisher: Project Chintan
author: Project Chintan Newsroom
section: India
published: 2026-07-30T18:41:57.000Z
modified: 2026-07-30T21:01:30.131Z
language: en-IN
---

# Wage Freeze Crisis: 50 Lakh Workers Target Government Inaction Over 12-Year Stagnation

Labor leaders have launched statewide protests demanding immediate wage revisions for 50 lakh employees across 71 scheduled sectors. The CITU warns of escalating industrial action if the government continues to ignore a 12-year lapse in minimum pay updates.

## Key takeaways

- CITU reports that minimum wages for 71 scheduled employment categories have not been updated in 12 years despite a five-year legal requirement.
- Protesters are demanding the regularization of 4 lakh contract and outsourced workers currently employed across various government departments.
- The labor union is calling for an immediate increase in the unskilled worker pay floor to ₹26,000 to combat long-term exploitation.
- Statewide demonstrations at district collectorates served as a warning of a potential large-scale strike if demands remain unaddressed.

## Statewide Unrest Over Stagnant Pay Scales

Massive demonstrations erupted across Andhra Pradesh on Thursday as the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) mobilized against prolonged wage stagnation. Concentrating their efforts at the NTR District Collectorate in Vijayawada and similar sites across the state, activists and laborers staged sit-ins to voice their grievances. The leadership highlighted a systemic failure to protect approximately 50 lakh employees who fall under the 71 categories of scheduled employment.

## A Decade of Forgotten Revisions

CITU State president Ch. Narasinga Rao and general secretary A.V. Nageswara Rao pointed to a significant breach of labor protocols. While the law mandates a revision of minimum wages every five years for these sectors, the current scales have remained frozen for 12 years. This long-standing neglect has left a vast workforce, including 4 lakh contract and outsourced personnel within government departments, struggling against inflation without adjusted compensation. The union is now demanding that the floor for unskilled labor be set at ₹26,000.

### Demands for Security and Fair Pay

The protest organizers criticized the administration for prioritizing investor interests over the welfare of the working class. Their list of demands includes:
- The immediate regularization of all contract and outsourced employees.
- Application of the Minimum Time Scale for government-integrated workers.
- Comprehensive updates to the pay scales for all 71 scheduled labor categories.

Union leaders warned that these localized protests serve as a precursor to a larger strike if the state government fails to address the exploitation of its workforce. They maintain that sustainable economic growth is unattainable while the core providers of labor are marginalized.

Source: The Hindu — National

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Canonical: https://projectchintan.com/article/wage-freeze-crisis-50-lakh-workers-target-government-inaction-over-12-year-stagn-kkdkw
Reported from: The Hindu — National