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A 20-year wait for justice finally bears fruit with the high court making it mandatory for management at the Super Bazaar Cooperative Store to pay its women workers the same salary as their male counterparts
The Delhi High Court has upheld the principle of equal pay for equal work in a case filed by women workers at a government-run cooperative store. In 1984, 49 women working as packers at the Super Bazaar Cooperative Store filed a case when they found that their male counterparts, doing same or similar work, had been appointed at higher pay scales.
The single-judge bench, comprising Justice Madan B Lokur, while upholding the constitutional basis enshrined in Article 14 which bars discrimination on grounds of sex and Article 39 (d) which provides equal pay for equal work, observed that though there may be some discrimination on certain well defined principles in the matter of pay scales there could not be any inequality or discrimination only on gender grounds.
The verdict comes as a relief to the 49 women packers who fought a 20-year battle for the right to equal pay. The women were appointed as packers at the store, along with their men counterparts, in 1984. But they were given less pay compared to male workers doing the same job.
Management at the cooperative store justify the discrimination on grounds of designation. The women cleaned pulses and so on and were appointed as 'packing cleaners,' as opposed to 'packers' -- the designation given to male employees who weighed the goods and packed them using electrical appliances.
The appellate authority, emphasising the different designations given to men and women staff, had earlier passed a judgement in favour of the management, justifying the higher pay scales for men staff. The order was quashed by the high court that claimed the appellate authority's approach was flawed.
Justice Lokur referred to the statutory basis of the claim -- India is a signatory to the International Labour Organisation Convention concerning equal remuneration for men and women workers for work of equal value. The judge also referred to the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, to which India is a signatory, specifically to Article 11 that deals with the elimination of discrimination in the field of employment.
"This form of discrimination, varying pay scales for the same work, is very prevalent. In fact, it is worsening. With more and more women entering the unorganised workforce, instances of discrimination are also going up," says Ashok Aggarwal, advocate for the petitioners.
Source: The Frontline, September 25-October 8, 2004
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