An offer of Rs41,660 as the monthly take-home pay has not satisfied the unskilled entry-level workers of Neyveli lignite Corporation, a Navaratna Public Sector undertaking at Neyveli, 300 km away from Chennai. They and their senior colleagues, numbering 12,000 are on strike since the last 30 days which has brought down the operations of the company to a standstill.
According to B Surender Mohan, chairman-cum-managing director of the NlC, the salary of entry-level unskilled workers, who were drawing a monthly pay packet of Rs36,660 has been revised to Rs41, 660. “Workers in the next grade, whose take-home pay was Rs70,745 per month will hereafter get Rs79,945 per month. Special grade workers who were drawing Rs1,09, 222 per month will receive Rs1,23,222 after the pay revision,” said Mohan, who has till Monday held 30 meetings with the union leaders to end the month long agitation by the worker but without luck.
The action of the managing director, who revealed the salaries and perks drawn by the workers made them furious and the stone-pelting was a fallout of the employees’ ire. A senior manager told The Pioneer that NlC offers the best salary compared to other similar public sector undertakings. He also said 40 per cent of the workforce are those whose land has been acquired by the company.
“The Bureau of Public Sector Enterprises (BPE) has put a stop on the uncontrolled and unguided pay hike. Now, we cannot offer anything more than 10 per cent,” said a senior manager. He pointed out the employees are demanding an entry level salary of Rs51,000 per month while the seniors are pressurising the Government for a salary of Rs1.5 lakhs per month. “This is unimaginable,” he said.
Besides monthly pay packets, these employees are eligible for subsidised canteens and rent-free accommodation. “Their children go to Central schools and later to the arts and science colleges without paying any expense. They stay in company owned accommodation without paying rent. They are looked after well by the NlC owned hospital,” said C D Meyyappan, a senior leader of Tamil Nadu Congress Committee, who is also a member of the Regional Coal Consumer Council. Meyyappan termed the strike as unjustifiable.
There is no sign of the employees making any concessions. “last time, though the company’s profit was only Rs900 crore, the management agreed to a 25 per cent hike during the pay revision. The company made a profit of Rs1,500 crore during 2014 to 2015 and it is not beyond their capacity to offer a 24 per cent hike in the new pay revision,” said K Palanisamy, leader of the BMS, one of the striking unions.
Interestingly, the AIADMK and the DMK, which do not see eye to eye on any issues, find themselves on the same side, supporting the striking workers. The trade unions affiliated to the AIADMK and DMK are the two largest unions in NlC.
S Sridhar, general manager (public relations), said the BPE guidelines could be an effort by the Central Government to rationalise the pay revision of all public sector enterprises in the country. “The Madras High Court has issued orders restraining the unions from resorting to strike. We are all hoping that the workers would understand the ground realities and come back to the negotiating table,” he said.
But Palanisamy, has one interesting point to make. “The company has appointed 4,000 executives/managers to take care of 12,000 workers. While Rs1330 crore is paid as salary of the workers, the executives draw Rs886 crore. Is there any justification for this,” he asks. Agitations and strikes are routine affairs in NlC. The year 2013 saw the contract workers coming out in the open demanding their absorption as regular employees.