It is in the Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) among all units under the Steel Authority of India where the contract workers get much less than the minimum wages fixed by the Central Government, alleged Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) State general secretary Bishnu Mohanty on Tuesday.
Mohanty said despite repeated demands, the SAIl authority is not heeding to an agreement for minimum wages to the contract labourers of Rs10,000 per month. But in coal sector due to united fight of the workers and trade unions, the minimum wage of an unskilled contract labourer has been fixed at Rs465 per day, where as in RSP, it is still Rs150 against the minimum wage fixed by the Central Government at Rs186. Surprisingly, while in the RSP, the minimum wage per day for contract workers is Rs150, in all other units under the SAIl, it is more than Rs200, Mohanty contended.
He further alleged that though the pay revision agreement for the regular workers of the SAIl should be operational from January 1, 2012, but willingly the SAIl management has been deferring it in the National Joint Consultative Steel Committee (NJCS), whereas the executives are getting the benefits in time.
According to Mohanty in 2000, the SAIl had 1.85 lakh regular workers and production per worker per annum was 98 tonnes and now it has 1.05 lakh workers while the production per head has gone up to 241 tonnes.
While the number at the executive level has been increasing, the base level workers’ number is rather dwindling, Mohanty said and clarified that due the contribution of the base level workers, the SAIl is getting benefit.
“So, Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) still stands on its demand for 30 per cent MGB, 46 per cent fringe benefit and early wage agreement. If the demands are not fulfilled, we would have no other ways than to go for a massive demonstration in front of all the units of SAIl on March 26,” warned Mohanty. Among others, Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) leaders Biman Maity, Banamali Dhupal, Basudev Sahoo, Basant Nayak, Rajkishore Pradhan and PK Swain were present.