The National Coordination Committee of five major port workers’ federations met here recently and discussed the problems being confronted by the workers and the major ports in detail. The committee slammed the the Union Government for initiating actions to convert major ports as companies in the name of infrastructure developments. ‘The initiative is nothing but an attempt to hand over the assets and several lakhs of acres of land of ports to the multinationals and real estate owners in India,’ alleged committee members.
They said the Government is responsible for cargo-related problems being faced by the major ports as it has appointed CEOs who have no experience in the field of port industry. They alleged that the Indian Ports Association (IPA) Chairman has adopted an unfair and draconian attitude in dealing labour-related matters. The Ministry of Shipping is also adopting unfair labour practises by not implementing statutory settlements and several assurances on labour related matters, they said.
They cautioned the authorities that such a situation would definitely affect the smooth and efficient functioning of the major ports for which the workers would not be responsible. They alleged that important decisions like consolidation of pension, payment of Productivity-linked Reward, introduction of unilateral enforcement of CGHS instead of the existing medical regulations and denial of compassionate appointment to the dependents of deceased employees are being handled in an inefficient manner by the authorities.
The federations allege that the present attempts of major port authorities are nothing but to promote the private ports with ulterior motive. The committee decided to request the Shipping Ministry Secretary to call a meeting of the recognised federations immediately to discuss the issues. They also requested the Secretary to keep away the IPA from dealing with labour-related issues arbitrarily. The federations unanimously adopted a resolution to support the nationwide strike on September 2, 2015 called by the Central trade unions.