Coal India claims that trade unions have postponed their strike plans

12 Oct 2023 , 01:56 PM

Five central trade unions had called for a three-day walkout at all of Coal India’s subsidiaries earlier this month. Coal India is a state-owned company.

In a regulatory filing on Wednesday, Coal India stated that ‘…the representatives of trade unions conveyed that the strike in the establishments of CIL and its subsidiaries is deferred while considering the appeal of management.’

According to Nathulal Pandey, president of the HMS-affiliated Hind Khadan Mazdoor Federation, a total of five trade unions — BMS, INTUC, CITU, AITUC, and HMS — had called for a walkout from October 12-14 amid concerns about wage payments.

The walkout has been postponed, according to the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), because a court ordered the CIL management to pay salaries in accordance with the most recent agreement.

A court ruling instructing the corporation to pay the salary in accordance with the most recent agreement caused the strike to be postponed, according to Amarjeet Kaur, general secretary of the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), who spoke with PTI on the phone.

Originally scheduled to take place from October 5-7, the three-day strike was ultimately moved to October 12–14.

‘CIL is in receipt of joint strike notice from central trade unions…for observing 3 days strike from October 5 to October 7 in Coal lndia Ltd. & its subsidiaries,’ the public sector coal company had stated on September 20.

The CIL had stated in an exchange filing on September 27 that ‘the representatives of trade unions while considering the appeal of CIL management conveyed that they shall go on strike in establishments of CIL/subsidiaries from 12th-14th October, 2023.’

Further, CIL stated that in its letter to the Chief Labour Commissioner (Central), it had asked for prompt action to protect the company’s and the nation’s interests because the industry had been designated as a ‘Public Utility Service’ and that uninterrupted coal production and supply to power plants was crucial to ensuring the generation and supply of electricity.

The coal ministry said in June of this year that it had approved a salary adjustment deal for non-executive employees of Coal India that had been agreed with trade unions.

In addition to a 25% rise in allowances, the agreement calls for a minimum guaranteed benefit of 19% on all emoluments starting on July 1, 2021, including basic, variable dearness allowance (VDA), special dearness allowance (SDA), and attendance bonus.

The Joint Bipartite Committee for the Coal Industry (JBCCI)-XI, which was composed of the administration of CIL, Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL), the central trade unions, and the Indian National Mine Workers’ Federation (INMF), came to an agreement in May.

More than 80% of the domestic coal production is attributed to Coal India. PSU produces, on average, 1.5 million tonnes per day.

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