Bowing to the pressure of the labour unions, the Steel Authority of India limited (SAIl) on Sunday fixed the next National Joint Council for Steels (NJCS) meeting for January 25. Earlier, the meeting was proposed to be held on Monday.
However, the CITU announced to stick to its earlier decision of holding two-hour protest on January 20 against ‘arbitrary’ deferment of the meeting, which was expected to finalise a wage agreement. “It is good that the SAIl ultimately fixed a date. But, we will stage the prefixed two-hour-long sit-in in order to press our demand for a respectable wage agreement apart from showing our resentment to the arbitrary cancellation of the meeting,” said CITU vice-president Bishnu Mohanty. The Rourkela Shramik Sangh (RSS), another member union of the NJCS, also urged the SAIl management to finalise the wage agreement at the January 25 meeting. Similarly, AITUC leader Pravat Mishra said the trade union will resort to hunger strike from January 30 if the SAIl fails to deliver a respectable wage agreement at the rescheduled meeting.