DA hike: ₹30,000 minimum wage, higher pension, job security — Full list of BMS' demands ahead of 17 August strike

The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) has raised a number of demands before the Centre ahead of its protests scheduled nationwide on 17 August, the central trade union's national vice president and media in-charge Pawan Kumar said. In Delhi, the RSS-affiliated union's protest will be held at Jantar Mantar, as per a PTI report.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Kumar said that key demands include a minimum monthly wage of ₹30,000 for unskilled workers, job security for contract workers, higher pensions and increased wage ceilings for employees' provident fund (EPF) and employees' insurance (ESI), it added.

BMS charter: Full list of demands ahead of protests

• Announce a minimum monthly wage of ₹30,000 for unskilled workers.
• Minimum pension under Employees' Pension Scheme, 1995 (EPS-95) be increased to ₹7,500 and linked with Variable Dearness Allowance (VDA) and Ayushman Bharat Yojana.

• It has demanded that the EPF ceiling be raised from ₹15,000 to ₹30,000.
• The trade union wants the ESI ceiling also raised from ₹21,000 to ₹42,000.
• Demanded an immediate resumption of the Indian Labour Conference. There has no meeting of the forum since 2015, Kumar added.
• Seeks equal pay for equal work and job security for contract workers. Kumar cited the Haryana Contractual Employees (Service and Security) Act, 2024 and rules notified in 2025 as a possible model.
• Kumar said the Haryana framework creates a “beneficiary employee” category under which contractual workers will not be designated permanent employees but will receive facilities similar to permanent employees.
• On gratuity, the BMS demands that the calculation period be increased from 15 days' wages to 30 days' wages without a ceiling.

• Demanded increase in the honorarium of Anganwadi, ASHA, Mid-Day Meal, NHM and other scheme workers.
• Provide strict punishment for contractors and manpower agencies involved in wage theft.
• The organisation also demanded a five-day banking system.
• Demanded implementation of pending wage agreements.
• Demanded that vacant government posts be filled.
• Demanded restoration of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS).
• Opposes the Industrial Relations (IR) Code and Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (OSH&WC) Code, for alleged “many anti-worker provisions”.
• Sought an exclusive policy for more than one crore scheme workers, saying most of them are skilled workers.

Why are protests called?

Kumar said the government has promised to address the trade unions' concerns regarding the labour codes on 21 November 2025, but the concerns remain unresolved. He told PTI that the BMS held its national executive meeting in Ranchi between 26-28 July with 173 of the 180 members in attendance. He said that a consensus was reached to hold demonstrations on 17 August to press for demands.

The organisation will assess its strength after the protests before deciding its next course of action, he added.

According to Kumar, while the government cites financial burden as hindrance to increasing pension, he argued that the issue needs to be examined in the context of the corpus available under the pension system. “Today, more than ₹3 lakh crore is deposited in EPF pension. This is the pensioner's money,” he said.

Kumar said the BMS believes interest on the corpus can help improve pension payouts.

He also added that the existing EPF ceiling is increasingly out of sync with prevailing minimum wages. “Delhi's minimum wage has now become ₹18,000 to ₹23,000 for unskilled workers,” he stated.

(With inputs from Agencies)