Even as the INTUC-affiliated Indian National Mineworkers Federation has announced an elaborate agitation plan, including a three -day strike in November over the ongoing wage negotiations, a majority of the other central trade unions are in no mood to participate in any agitation.
Top leaders of two central trade unions told The Hindu that it was improper to plan any agitation when the National Coal Wage Agreement (NCWA) - X is under negotiation. INTUC is not a party to the negotiations this time on the basis of a court order. Talks on the NCWA- X had failed on August 31, despite several rounds of negotiations and hopes of sealing an agreement. The pact would cover more than three lakh employees in the subsidiaries of Coal India Ltd. and Singareni Collieries Company Ltd.
Though there was some agreement between the four major central unions and the managements on ‘the minimum guaranteed benefit’, whereby workers would get a 20% rise in basic wages and 4% rise in allowances, the talks skidded mainly on three issues, including two relating to providing employment on compassionate grounds and changing the present practice of a fixed ‘rest day’ for the mine-workers, trade union leaders said.
However, through subsequent talks led by Coal India Ltd.’s interim chairman Gopal Singh, trade unions are optimistic about closing the deal. “We have arrived at some meeting ground and we will sit again on October 10,” two senior trade union members told The Hindu adding that it would not (not)be party to INTUC’s agitation and strike plan between November 6 and 8, 2017.
Decision pending
A senior leader of the Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS) Nathulal Pandey, who struck a dissenting note in the ongoing efforts to close the wage pact, said that HMS was sympathetic to INTUC’s efforts, but the union could finalise its stand only after the October 10 meeting. The earlier pact – NCWA-IX – expired on June 30, 2016.
Senior INTUC leader S.Q. Zama said that he was confident of the success of the agitation plan chalked out by the trade union, saying that there was a “well of resentment,”among the workers.
