Noida workers strike across 82 factories

Thousands of factory workers in Noida’s Phase 2 industrial area walked off the job on April 13 as a wage protest spread across the industrial belt. (news18.com) (frontline.thehindu.com) Local reports said workers in 82 factories joined the strike, with stoppages concentrated in the hosiery and garment clusters of Noida and nearby Greater Noida. (frontline.thehindu.com) (ndtv.com) Workers said they were earning about ₹11,000 to ₹13,000 a month and wanted a minimum salary of ₹18,000 to ₹20,000, plus overtime pay, weekly offs, bonuses and medical cover. (news18.com) The immediate trigger was a wage increase in neighboring Haryana, where workers said minimum rates had risen sharply while comparable factories in Noida did not match them. (news18.com) (frontline.thehindu.com) On April 13, the protest turned violent in parts of Noida, with reports of stone-pelting, vandalism and at least one vehicle set on fire in the Phase 2 area. (timesofindia.indiatimes.com) (thehindu.com) The unrest also snarled traffic across Dadri Road, the Noida-Greater Noida Elevated Road, Sector 62 and routes feeding Delhi, including approaches to Chilla Border and the DND corridor. (economictimes.indiatimes.com) The Uttar Pradesh government responded on April 14 by raising interim minimum wages for Gautam Buddh Nagar and Ghaziabad to ₹13,690 a month for unskilled workers, ₹15,059 for semi-skilled workers and ₹16,868 for skilled workers, effective April 1. (indianexpress.com) (ndtv.com) Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also said employers should pay overtime, give weekly holidays and bonuses, and protect women workers at the workplace. (ndtv.com) Workers and labor reporters said the increase did not meet the ₹18,000 to ₹20,000 demand and did not settle complaints over 12-hour shifts, seven-day schedules and unsafe conditions. (news18.com) (frontline.thehindu.com) The dispute now sits at the center of a wider fight over how India’s industrial workforce is paid as living costs rise faster than wages in export-driven factory hubs like Noida. (economictimes.indiatimes.com) (downtoearth.org.in)