NLC talks fails, strike continues: labour leaders

Madras High Court last week issued order restricting labourers from entering into strike

Talks between the contract labours' organisations in Neyveli Lignite Corporation, the management and the Labour Department officials in Chennai to settle the issues of the contract workers has failed.

The Joint Action Council (JAC), formed in collaboration with various workers' organisations, would meet tomorrow to take further decision on this, according to a Union official.

The labour organisations in the lignite mining firm including NLC Jeeva Oppantha Thozhilalar Sangam, one of the trade unions in the JAC which had served a notice threatening to go on a strike, along with various other labour unions have met the officials. The conciliation meetings, happened from morning till late evening today.

However, the organisation leaders said that they would continue the strike till their demands are met.

Last week, the Madras High Court has given an interim stay refraining the 10,000 contract workers of Neyveli Lignite (NLC) from continuing with the indefinite strike.

The order was in response to NLC's petition, urging the court to pass an ad-interim injunction restraining the members of the unions from indulging in proceeding with the illegal strike and indulging in any mode of agitation.

Workers of the public sector major had pressed in for an indefinite strike demanding regularisation of services from yesterday.

The joint action council (JAC) comprising nine trade unions of contract workers have been demanding NLC management to regularise the services of all contract workers and revise their wages until the contract workers are absorbed into regular service.

After the NLC Jeeva Oppntha Thozhilalar Sangam had served a notice threatening to go on a strike, assistant labour commissioner (central) P Sivarajan convened a conciliation meeting.

The talks, held in Puducherry on last Wednesday also failed to arrive at a consensus as the unions refused to withdraw the strike notice and on participating in negotiations for revising their wages.

NLC stated the strike, during the pendency of conciliating proceedings, was illegal. In the petition, it noted, in the presence of assistant labour commissioner (Central), Puducherry, so far four such meetings had been held and the next one was scheduled on September 8.

Besides, as the corporation is a 'Public Utility Service' in terms of ID Act, 1957, as well as by a declaration issued by the central government, no person employed shall go on strike in breach of the contract, including without giving to the employer the notice of strike.

NLC said the unions' demand that all long-serving contract workmen be regularised as NLC employees immediately, was contrary to the 12(3) of the Act's settlements, dated October 30, 2010, and June 3, 2012, entered into by the contract workmen unions, and also does not flow from the Supreme Court order under reference.