At long last the Rourkela Steel Plant Management gave recognition to the Rourkela Ispat Karakhana Karmachari Sangh (RIKKS), affiliated to the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) on Monday.
Source said RSP GM PK Pradhan in presence of GM (P&A) Santosh Nayak and other officers handed over the recognition letter to RIKKS general secretary Himansu Bal in presence of RIKKS president Uttam Kumar Majumdar, Bharatiya Ispat Mazdoor Mahasangh general secretary Dilip Patnaik and other union leaders. After getting the recognition letter, Bal said it is the victory of the RSP workers and his union will work for the development of the workers to fulfil their expectations.
On April 10 his union will celebrate its Vijay Utsav through a rally from Bisra Chowk to Telephone Bhawan ground and a meeting will be held there.
It may be noted here that despite getting a landslide victory in the recognition election held on October 15, 2014, the RIKKS was not given recognition by the RSP management until the Odisha High Court had put restriction on result declaration as two trade unions, Steel Employees’ Association, Rourkela (SEAR) and Ispat labour Union (IlU) had challenged election procedure in the court. Hearing the case, the High Court had cleared the case on March 18 against the appellants and allowed the Regional labour Commissioner (RlC) to declare the result.
It is also to be noted here that while RIKKS had got an overwhelming 7,329 votes out of total 14,124 votes cast, Biramitrapur MlA George Tirkey-led Gangpur Mazdoor Manch (GMM) came second scoring 2,666 votes, the Rourkela Mazdoor Sabha (RMS) affiliated to the HMS secured 1,885 votes, the Rourkela Shramik Sangh (RSS) affiliated to the INTUC got 944, the Steel Employees’ Trade Union affiliated to the CITU, 936, the Rourkela Workers’ Union, 121, the AITUC, 98 and the Steel Employees’ Association, Rourkela, 52 votes.