Late on Wednesday night, the coal unions called off their strike after over seven hours of negotiations at Coal Minister Piyush Goyal’s office at Shram Shakti Bhawan here.
While the government did not immediately agree to any of their demands, the union leaders said making it initiate consultations and consider their demands was a “step forward”. The thaw will give more time to the government and the unions to negotiate even while the Bill is unlikely to reach the Rajya Sabha before March.
Coal India Ltd.’s production fell by half in two days of the strike. By Wednesday night, while the negotiations were on, more than a third of the 141 thermal power stations were left with no stocks, and half had less than three days’ stock.
Of the five unions, the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) did not go with the understanding to sign the agreement under which the unions have taken the Minister’s offer to set up a committee under a joint secretary with the CIL and all unions’ representatives to examine the workers’ concerns over the provisions of the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Bill. At present, captive coal blocks are allotted with restrictions on end use, and the Bill will allow private firms to obtain coal blocks without these restrictions, thus allowing commercial mining. Workers’ concerns regarding pension and welfare will be discussed at the CIL office in Kolkata on January 27. The committee is expected to submit its recommendations before March.
“The Minister said the 100 blocks to be auctioned by March will not be allotted for commercial mining, but with limits over end-use. He said the Bill’s provisions were meant to allow commercial mining, but for smaller industrial units and brick kilns to be able to access the coal reserves. We raised concerns about over 30,000 workers in the 204 coal mines allocations cancelled by the Supreme Court in August and he assured us that workers will not be retrenched. He said 54 blocks marked for the CIL will get all environment clearances on a priority basis,” said Pradeep Kumar Dutta of Akhil Bhartiya Khadan Mazdoor Sangh, the coal workers’ union of the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh.
All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) general secretary Gurudas Dasgupta said the unions had agreed to call off the strike as they considered the negotiations a step forward. “Till now, the Minister was not even willing to listen. As a committee has been formed, the government will have an opportunity to look into the demands. If nothing is conceded by the government, there will be more struggle,” he said.
“It is unfortunate that the strike has been called off only on the basis of an assurance by the Coal Minister to constitute a committee to look into the demands,” the CITU said.
Senior union leaders as well as government officials from the coal sector said the strike, which brought the country’s power plants to the verge of a shutdown, could have been avoided had the government agreed to consult the unions earlier. In 2010, all five unions had given a strike notice when the government announced the CIL’s IPO. After negotiations, only the CITU observed a one-day strike and the other four central unions withdrew the strike notice.
