Ganapathi Sugars Limited re-opened its doors on September 16 after a gap of 112 days, offering a huge sigh of relief to both employees and farmers.
The factory lockout issue was referred to the labour court, following which, the Labour Commissioner issued directions in this regard on September 13.
With an ongoing dispute between the management and employees’ union over revision of wages, Ganapathi Sugars declared a lockout on May 25.
Though a series of meetings were organised, the stalemate continued with both sides sticking to their guns. According to sources, the management was reluctant to revise employees’ wages.
On September 8, the Joint Commissioner of Labour had sent a report to the higher officials stating that the discussions had failed, after which the report was referred to the labour court.
“The existing agreement with the management ended on March 31, 2021, and was not renewed for the last 18 months. Employees stalled work and a strike continued but the issue was not resolved. The case was then referred to the Joint Commissioner of Labour,” union leader P. Srisailam said.
Finance and Health Minister T. Harish Rao also intervened and directed Collector A. Sharath and other officials to address the issue at the earliest in view of the agitation by employees and farmers, during which an employee committed suicide due to financial burden, putting pressure on the management.
“Farmers had already sown sugarcane crop in about 11,000 acres in both Sangareddy and Vikarabad districts. The crop will be ready for harvest in October-November. With the lifting of the sugar factory lockout, farmers can now breathe easy. Also, the over 238 employees joined work. The Government of India has fixed a price of ₹3,477 per tonne of sugar, and the factory management should offer this price to farmers,” assistant commissioner, sugarcane, K. Rajashekar said.
He also stated that the issue of wage revision was referred to the adjudication (court) as both parties were not agreeing with each others’ demands. The management later, agreed to pay an advance amount of ₹1,000.
