Rourkela Shramik Sangh pooh-poohs RIKKS conspiracy slur
Rourkela Shramik Sangh (RSS) led by Prasant Behera in a Press briefing on Sunday described the allegation that ‘there is conspiracy in delay of NJCS agreement’ by BMS affiliated the Rourkela Ispat Karakhana Karmachari Sangh (RIKKS) as ‘baseless and ridiculous.’
Behera said the present wage agreement for SAIl workers is a victory of the united fight of the NJCS member union leaders.
Discarding the claim of the RIKKS that ‘even the leaders were not ready to sign the pact on July 1’ and that it was only possible after a RIKKS delegation met the Union Steel Minister,’ Behera said why the RIKKS members were not able to convince the Minister to add more additional benefits for the workers than those decided upon in the MoU of January 25 last.
Behera said it was due to the present Union Steel Minister’s pressure that the SAIl management had incorporated three anti-worker points deviating from the MoU and that is why, the leaders had to fight a lot on agreement day to remove those points such as gratuity ceiling, local conveyance allowance and lTC and llTC.
Making a counter allegation, Behera said after the agreement, the BMS was rather making double standards. Behera further said though they were expecting more but the present agreement is the best possible one considering the present situation of steel markets.