A workers' procession: A complicated issueThree persons were killed when police opened fire to quell a riotous mob in the Bangalore bandh called by the striking employees of five giant public sector units. About 75,000 workers from Hindustan Aeronautics, Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT), Indian Telephone Industries (ITI), Bharat Electronics and Bharat Earth Movers have been involved in the indefinite strike since December 26 last.In spite of production loss to the tune of Rs 2 crore incurred every day, the striking workers are adamant to stick to their demand - wage parity with their coevals in Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL).The last wage settlement in these undertakings, entered into in 1978, made it clear that, "If the minimum wages (pay and DA) are altered to a higher rate than agreed to in this settlement in any other engineering central public sector undertakings such as BHEL or HMT, the management agrees to make necessary modifications in the relevant clauses and consequential adjustments, in consultation with the unions."C. M. Stephen, union communications minister, and F.M. Khan, MP - both NTUC leaders - had queered the pitch for conciliation. Stephen, while rejecting the demands of the striking employees, said: "The BHEL agreement was signed at a time when there was no government in power. Therefore it cannot morally bind the present government which was voted to power in January 1981."Although the present government at the Centre was not a party to the BHEL agreement, the implementation was made only after the return of Mrs Indira Gandhi to power. Moreover, to say that there was "no government" reveals an attitude of today's ruling clique that the Goverment of India and the Congress(I) are synonymous.Production Loss: F.M. Khan, who heads one of the HMT unions affiliated to INTUC, wanted to take credit for securing a wage increase for the employees and thereby enhancing his clout in the trade union movement. When the Centre was not receptive to any wage hike, he switched to a pro-management stance. The strike, the longest ever in the history of public sector undertakings, by now would have resulted in a production loss about Rs 70 crore. The loss in wages would be around Rs 52.5 lakh. The Union Labour Minister, N.D. Tiwari, made his own contribution to the prolongation of the strike by his callous statement that he had nothing to do with the wage parity issue of public sector undertakings. The problem was further complicated by a circular issued by the management of ITI warning the employees that they could be hauled up under the provisions of the National Security Act. The only sympathetic person among politicians who is keen on bringing the costly strike to an early end is C.K. Jaffer Sharief, Union minister of state for railways, who has appealed to the employees to call off the strike and co-operate with the Government in improving productivity and thereby the prosperity of the country which would in turn, take care of their interests. Knowing Sharief's limitations in the "power game" that is being played in Karnataka, the striking employees have not taken him seriously.A degree of wage parity among public sector engineering undertakings prevailed, following the 1973 Bureau of Public Enterprises settlement which pegged the basic minimum salary in all comparable units' at Rs 325 a month, subject to varying breakups in disbursement. The agreement was to have come up for revision in 1976, but on account of the Emergency, the negotiating unions withheld their demand. Following the lifting of the Emergency, the unions had clamoured for revised wages in 1977 and had put together a joint action committee comprising all unions representing the engineering industry. An agreement was reached to fix the basic minimum wages in the five engineering units at Rs 450 with effect from January 1, 1977. Subsequently BHEL employees, with the assistance of its former managing director and industry secretary, K. Krisbnamurthy, secured an interim relief of 10 per cent in wages, followed by a final wage settlement in May 1978, which gave it a lead in salaries over the other public sector units.All the trade unions in Bangalore have taken an aggressive attitude. Their joint action front decided to gherao the Karnataka legislature on January 28, the opening day of the new session and to boycott all government functions on Republic Day. Seeing the writing on the wall, the KPCC(I) labour cell has appealed to the Government to take immediate steps to break the impasse before the situation worsens.-Southern Bureau Published By: AtMigration Published On: Nov 30, 2013--- ENDS ---
