The fifth round of tri-partite talks held by Assistant Commissioner of Labour S. Sivarajan with the Jeeva Contract Labourers Union affiliated to the AITUC and the management of the Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) failed to make any headway here on Wednesday.
The workers have been on strike since September 3 in support of their charter of demands.
M. Sekar, district secretary of the AITUC, said the management had failed to provide any concrete promise on the major demands, including regularisation and wage revision. The management had offered to provide 8.33 % bonus with an ex-gratia payment of Rs. 2,000 as against Rs.1,500, gratuity and an earned leave once in 20 days if the strike was called off. However, all these were statutory benefits and covered by the Industrial Disputes Act.
The unions had made their stand clear that only senior-level executives such as the Chairman or director (personnel), who enjoyed the decision-making powers, should participate in the talks. However, the management has only deputed lower-rung officials, who are evasive in their reply. The talks should be referred to the Regional Labour Commissioner or the Deputy Chief Labour Commissioner in Chennai for a final and amicable solution, he said.
Mr. Sekar said the management was adopting unfair labour practices by taking unskilled workers without vocational training certificate (VTC) to the mines, endangering the safety of their lives as well as the security of the PSU.
The trade unions would intensify the strike from September 19 and picket Thermal Power Station I and II demanding the removal of raw hands. The unions have also planned to picket the corporate office along with their families, he said.
When contacted, N. Balaji, General Manager (Human Resource), NLC, said the unions had breached two settlement agreements reached in 2010 and 2012 that they would not raise demand for wage revision till the next settlement, which expires in October 2015. The management was providing them all statutory benefits and other packages of benefit, which are unique to PSUs. “In the conciliatory talks, we offered three benefits that are over and above last year’s payment. But, the trade unions have been demanding over and above that and their demands are unreasonable and unjustified,” he said.
Special Correspondent reports from Neyveli:
As many as 500 contract workmen of the NLC were secured by the police when they went to block the rail traffic at the Mandarakuppam railway station near here on Wednesday. Earlier, led by Labour Progressive Front president Thirumavalavan, they went in a procession from the Mandarakuppam bus stand to the railway station to block the Nagore - Bangalore Express.
However, the police blocked them 200 metres ahead of the railway station and took them into custody.
Meanwhile, it is reliably learnt that the management has sent lawyers’ notice to union leaders as to why contempt of court proceedings should not be initiated against them for defying the Madras High Court’s interim order preventing the contract workmen from going on strike.
The power generation in the NLC stood at 2,100 MW against the full capacity of 2,490 MW. It was due to the closure of a 210-MW unit for mandatory maintenance and easing of pressure on the power grid.
