The Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) management efforts to motivate the coal miners to attend to their duties is yielding results with the steady increase in attendance of workers at all the open cast projects and underground mines in the Singareni coal belt region.
Even as the national trade unions AITUC, INTUC, CITU, HMS and BMS had called for indefinite strike from June 15 demanding the revival of dependent employment scheme, the attendance of miners at all the OCPs and UGs was steadily increasing from 40% on the first day of strike, to 45% on second day, 55% on third and it was more than 70% on Sunday, the fourth day of the strike.
The Telangana Boggu Ghani karmika sangham (TGBKS), the recognised trade union of the Singareni and affiliated to ruling TRS, had abstained from the strike and motivated the coal workers to attend to their duties as the Government and the management was committed for the revival of the dependent employment scheme. The Singareni officials also said that the miners had rejected the strike call and actively attending to their duties and excavating and transporting more coal than the normal days.
No all-India strike
In the meantime, the Singareni management also heaved a sigh of relief as the proposed all-India strike from June 19 to 21 by all the trade unions of coal mines demanding the 10th National Coal Wage Agreement to the coal workers, opposing the merger of coal miners provident fund (CMPF) with the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and others is likely to be called off as the Union Government had agreed to stop merger of the CMPF with EPF and implement the 10th wage board for the coal miners mostly within two months.
Sensing possible loss to the coal sector due to strike, the Union Coal Ministry again held another round of talks with the trade unions at Delhi and assured them of fulfilling the demands.
