Trade unions to make case for CIL contract workers' 20% wage hike

After an average wage revision of 20 per cent for around 2.98 lakh permanent employees of Coal India Ltd, trade unions are now readying to pitch for a similar wage agreement for contractual workers of the miner.

The state-owned company had in October said it has signed a wage agreement with workers' unions, proposing a 20 per cent hike in salaries for a period of five years.

"We will now take up the matter of new wage agreement for the contract workers and some other pending issues with Coal India, "All India Coal Workers' Federation general secretary D D Ramanandan told PTI.

A decision to form a high-powered committee has been taken to deliberate on this, he said.

The 10-member committee will comprise five members from the trade unions and as many from Coal India.

The 10th wage agreement effected in October would have an estimated impact of Rs 5,667 crore per year on the world's largest coal miner.

The mining behemoth's bottomline has been under stress in the last few quarters.

In the three months ended September, it posted nearly a 40 per cent fall in consolidated net profit to Rs 368.88 crore compared to Rs 612.44 crore in the corresponding period a year ago.

Trade Unions expect the average wage hike for the contract workers - whose number is estimated to be anywhere between two to three lakh - in the range of 15-20 per cent.