Amazon vendor’s workers protest over unpaid 3 months unpaid salaries

Baba Adhav, president of the Hamal Panchayat, a union advocating for the rights of headloaders, laborers, and gig workers in the state, visited the protest and called the situation an exploitation of workers.

He said that their union workers are registered and working under the company, yet the way they are treated should be criticized.

“This is not a new demand; it is simply what is outlined in the agreement. How are our people supposed to survive? Even the Mathadi Board has remained silent on this issue. Even at my age, I have the strength to stop traffic and fight for our rights,” he said.

CBA is a legal process under labour laws that allows employers and employees—meaning the industry and the workers—to jointly discuss and resolve workplace issues.

Chandan Kumar, an policy & legal advisor to the Hamal Panchayat, stated that companies generally hesitate to sign agreements because they do not want to take responsibility for workers.
“After three years of consistent efforts, the company came to the table, and we managed to get them to sign the agreement in the presence of the government,” he said.

Kumar added that before the agreement, the salary was around Rs 18,000, which was raised to Rs 26,000 for the period between April 2024 and March 2025. He further noted that the amount is set to increase to Rs 26,500 from April 2025 to March 2026.

General Secretary Gorakh Mengde said that most of these workers have been working for the past 9 to 10 years and are members of the Hamal Panchayat and Mathadi Board, yet their wages have been pending for the last three to four months.

“Once an agreement is signed, the company is bound to pay the workers. Most of them come from distant places and have significant daily expenses. How will they survive if they are not paid on time? If the company does not comply with the agreement, the families of these workers will be forced onto the streets,” he said.

Nikhil Walke, Chairperson of the Mathadi Board Workers and Assistant Commissioner, Labour Commissioner’s Office, told The Indian Express that a meeting was conducted regarding the issue, but no party was present.

“We will hold another meeting within a couple of days,” he said.

Speaking about the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), Walke stated that both the company and the workers are parties to the agreement, and the company is obligated to fulfill the demands outlined in the official agreement.

According to official agreement documents and worker allegations, since 2021, nine meetings have taken place between workers’ unions and Amazon. As a result, Amazon eventually agreed to a 30 per cent wage hike, which was made effective retroactively from April 2024.

A representative of Vaishali Transcarrier Private Limited, the subcontractor, visited the protest site and assured workers that their demands would be met.

Amazon, the principal employer, has released the statement that states, “Our Supply Chain Standards require all suppliers and third-party service providers to pay their workers, including contract workers, in a timely manner and provide compensation that meets or exceeds applicable laws. While Amazon is not directly responsible for the compensation of our partners’ employees, we take these matters seriously as they impact people working in our facilities. We are actively investigating the situation and are in contact with the concerned service provider to resolve this issue at the earliest.”