Employees affiliated to All-India Defence Employees Federation will go ahead with the three-day strike from December 8-10 called in protest against the government decision to corporatise ordnance factories (by way of bringing them under seven defence PSUs) notwithstanding the promulgation of the Essential Defence Services Act 2021 (EDSA).
The AIDEF has filed a writ petition in Delhi High Court against the “draconian” EDSA 2021 (that has banned and criminalised the strike). The writ petition has been admitted and court has issued notice to the Centre. The government is yet to file its counter reply, AIDEF general secretary R. Srikumar said.
Of the two defence units in Tiruchi, the Ordnance Factory has been subsumed by the Advanced Weapons and Equipment India Ltd, with Kanpur as the base, and the High Energy Projectile Factory by Mun itions India Ltd based at Khadki in Pune.
After conversion of the Ordnance Factory Board, consisting of 41 production units across the country into seven DPSUs with effect from October 1, 2021, the employees have placed a charter of demands including call for regular payment of GPF withdrawals, maintaining 44-3/4 hours per week schedule, and settling of all pending interfactory/inter directorate transfer cases.
“Post-corporatisation after 01/10/2021, even though all 76,000 defence civilian employees are Central government employees, the seevn corporations started issuing “whimsical and unilateral instructions without authority” interfering in the service conditions of the employees,” he said.
Earlier this month, representatives of AIDEF and Bharatiya Pratiraksha Mazdoor Sangh, in a meeting with the Additional Secretary, Ministry of Defence, submitted a charter of demands conveying 32 issues/problems, and warned that if the problems were not settled, the employees would go on strike inspite of EDSA 2021.
