HMT Employees Union (CITU) has withdrawn its agitation as the Union government has approved its main demand on wage revision. A statement issued by the union on Friday said the indefinite agitation, launched in 2010, had been withdrawn following the latest development.
The statement said a section of the employees had withdrawn strike after it received an oral assurance on wage revision in 2011. But the CITU-led union had been continuing the struggle in the absence of written communication.
Board for Reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprises (BRPSE), in a special meeting held in May, 2013, recommended the wage revision package, apart from working capital worth Rs.75 crore. The Union government had approved the BRPSE proposals, the statement said.
An official release issued in Delhi on Friday said the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved financial assistance for HMT Machine Tools Limited (HMT MTL), including Rs. 75 crore as non-plan loan for working capital purposes.
Provision of a non-plan loan of Rs. 61.04 crore at seven percent interest per annum spread over two years is also on the anvil to implement 1997 pay revision. Interest on a government loan for Rs.38.58 crore (up to March 31, 2014) will also be waived. The total financial implication of the proposal in the form of non-plan loan would be Rs. 136.04 crore.
The demand to raise retirement age to 60 has not yet been accepted. The Kalamasserry unit that had 3,500 employees two decades ago now has only 350, according to the union statement.
