A wave of labour unrest has swept through the industrial belts of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, with thousands of workers, many of them migrants, walking off factory floors to demand a minimum wage of Rs 20,000 a month, as soaring living costs – driven in part by the Iran war – push the costs to a breaking point.
The protests, which began in early April at Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India’s plant in Manesar‘s Industrial Model Township in Haryana, quickly spread to Noida, Faridabad and Sonipat, drawing workers from garment units, auto ancillary firms and export-oriented factories. According to a ground report by The Hindu, over 350 people, including women, have been arrested, while key trade union leaders have been placed under house arrest.
How the protest started
At the centre of the discontent is a 600 per cent spike in open-market cooking gas prices, a direct fallout of the West Asia conflict. Workers told The Hindu that a kilogram of cooking gas, once available at Rs 100, now costs between Rs 600 and Rs 700. Combined with room rents of Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000 a month and wages that don’t increase, casual workers earning around Rs 10,000 monthly say they can’t save a penny.
Honda’s casual workers, or contract workers, whose wages had remained unchanged for over a decade despite regular employees securing a “decent hike,” were among the first to snap. The anger soon became a rallying point for workers across several sectors.
Both Haryana and Uttar Pradesh announced wage hikes under pressure. While Haryana revised its minimum wage upward by 10 per cent for unskilled and semi-skilled workers, UP, whose last revision was in 2024, revised the floor to Rs 13,600 for Noida after protests intensified. Workers and union leaders rejected these as inadequate, maintaining their demand of Rs 20,000.
Violence, FIRs, Pakistan claims
The protests have not been without violence. Workers and their representatives allege unprovoked baton charges by police, including against women. Police, however, have filed first information reports (FIR) against workers affiliated with Minda Group and Modelama Exports units, charging them with vandalism, extortion and attempt to murder, among other offences. Officers have attributed the unrest partly to social media accounts based in Pakistan, a claim contested by union leaders.
The Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) has demanded that the state minimum wage be fixed at Rs 30,000, citing benchmarks established by both government committees and Supreme Court guidelines. Its Haryana general secretary told The Hindu that a government-constituted committee, which met nine times and included representatives from workers, industry and government, had itself forwarded a Rs 30,000 recommendation. This, he said, was ignored.
Workers have raised concerns beyond wages. The absence of medical assistance even for on-the-job injuries, routine violations of provident fund and Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) contribution norms, no bonus payouts and a culture of daily humiliation on the factory floor are some of the other concerns they raise.
The unrest comes months after India’s 29 labour laws were consolidated into four codes in November 2025. A revised Variable Dearness Allowance announced by the UP government, applicable from April 1, 2026, was widely misunderstood as a universal wage hike to Rs 20,000, with videos to that effect going viral, further inflaming sentiment on the ground.
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