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Workers in Noida, Manesar, Faridabad, Panipat, Neemrana, Bhiwadi and other industrial areas across North Indian states have been on protest since early-April for better wages, in one of the largest working class assertions in the last decade. Nihal Koneru, a student of B.Sc. Economics – Finance at Shiv Nadar University, a private university in Greater Noida, reports on the spontaneous protests which erupted on campus, the first such action by university workers in the ongoing strike wave.
A day after Ambedkar Jayanti, on 15 April 2026 at 7 am, over 200 contract workers gathered in protest at Shiv Nadar University Gate 2. Their demands included increase in wages as per the UP government’s new minimum wages hikes (increased from Rs 11,313 to Rs 13,690), double pay for overtime and a 8 hour workday, including a one hour lunch break, and dignified working conditions.
Among the contractual workers, the housekeeping staff led the protests, alongside the horticulture staff (gardeners) and the maintenance workers. The university’s response to workers demanding their basic rights was to deploy a heavy police presence, who threatened the protesting workers with a lathi charge if they did not disband. Notably, these same police officers were also seen having breakfast in SNU Dining Hall 2, which speaks to the complicity of the administration in suppressing the workers’ struggle for their basic rights.
The workers disbanded at 9:30 am under pressure, after verbal guarantees were given by the police, following which they resumed their protest in front of G-Block. This second gathering was also dispersed by the police around 11 am.
We also spoke to many workers who participated in the protest and learned of the deeply troubling conditions they work under. Contract workers are made to work nine-hour shifts without overtime pay, are denied holidays on national holidays, receive only four paid holidays in a month, and are regularly subjected to verbal abuse by their supervisors. In cases of injury or health issues, they are not provided with appropriate healthcare. This is one among the many instances in the country where workers have been protesting.
Since the beginning of the year, there have been 28+ major strike actions across India demanding increase in Minimum wage, 8 hour workday and dignified working conditions. All of which have been met with lathi charges, mass arrests and even firing in IOCL Panipat. In April 2026, thousands of contract workers across IMT Manesar, Haryana launched strikes demanding higher wages and dignified working conditions. Beginning with Honda on 2 April, within a week strikes spread across the entire Manesar industrial belt. By mid-April, the strike spread to 13+ factories – Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India, Munjal Showa, Satyam Auto Components, Roop Polymers, Richa Global, Modelama Exports, Rico Auto, Suprajit Engineering, Syrma SGS Tech, Forza Medi, Aumovio India, Pricol Ltd, Sarita Handa Exports – and the production in the entire industrial belt came to a screeching halt. On 9 April, Haryana Police and private security hired by the Company unleashed violence on the striking workers to ensure they resume production. Police arrested 55 workers, including 20 women on 9 April; 11 were remanded to 14-day judicial custody by lower courts.
On one hand, Haryana Government was forced to increase the minimum wage by 35% – “unskilled” workers to ₹15,220, “skilled” to ₹19,425 – in response to the workers strike. On the other hand, it is painting a “larger conspiracy”, targeting worker rights and labour organisations. Comrades from Inquilabi Mazdoor Kendra and workers unions were also arrested as “conspirators”. Moreover, with the imposition of Section 163 BNSS, gathering of five or more people has been banned, thus denying the workers the ability to collectively fight for their rights.
In response to the Haryana Government’s minimum wage hike, the workers in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, doing comparable work, began striking for an increase in minimum wage, 8 hour workday and dignified working conditions. The state followed a similar script, where 350+ workers were arrested after several days of strikes were met with violence on 12-13 April. Moreover, the UP government claimed that the strikes were part of a “larger conspiracy to revive Naxalism”, having “possible Pakistan links”. At the same time, the UP government was forced to announce 21% minimum wage hike in the Greater Noida area, on paper.
Moreover, the current increase in the Minimum wages by Haryana and UP government do not hold up as per the formula given by the first Indian Labour Confernece (1957). The aforementioned formula for the minimum wage accounts for the following expenditure assumptions:
- Each worker will be bearing the cost of three other family members.
- 2,700 kilocalories diet expenditure.
- Clothing (72 metres) for the Family.
- Rent as per the government housing.
- Electricity, LPG and other miscellaneous expenses accounting for 30% of the minimum wage.
Healthcare and education expenses were not included in the formula as these were assumed to be provided by the government for free. But in an era of rapid privatisation this does not hold true. Therefore, applying the Indian Labour Conference’s scientific formula, the minimum wage for today’s “unskilled” workers (construction, housekeeping, gardening etc) should be Rs 32,000 per month for 8 hours of work. In reality, the government’s own revised minimum wage (Rs 13,690) falls woefully short of the aforementioned formula. This highlights the precarious conditions of the so-called “unskilled” workers in the informal sector, which forms the majority of the workers in our country.
