Worker-management tussle continues at Everest Industries, Nashik

About 135 permanent employees are on strike due to wage issues & issue related to reinstatement of 3 sacked workers

The ongoing worker-management tussle at Everest Industries in Nashik has not seen any progress. Workers are still on strike at the company plant in Nashik. Union officials, however, said that the labour ministry of Maharashtra is taking stock of the situation and is expected to give its verdict by next week.

Everest Industries, the building solutions company listed on the stock exchanges has been facing labour strike for the past nine months.  About 135 permanent employees are on strike at the Nashik plant, due to wage issues and issue related to the reinstatement of three sacked workers at the plant.

Meanwhile, officials of the Centre for Indian Trade Union (CITU) have met both the state labour ministry and the chief minister to resolve the situation as soon as possible."No concrete results have been reached. The negotiations are still on between the two sides," said a CITU official. The official added that the workers demands included flexible working hours, wage hike apart from revoking the dismissal of certain workers.

The union official further said that while permanent workers are paid around Rs 12,000 per month, contract workers at the plant who are more than 300 people are paid only upto Rs 150 per month. He added that the government would very soon find a solution to the labour issues and has requested the workers to remain peaceful in their agitation.

Things had taken a violent turn three weeks ago at the plant when three management officials of the company were stabbed by some workers. The management officials are currently recuperating from the injuries.

CITU officials have also met key ministers in the centre to discuss the strike issue and the freeing of two CITU leaders D L Karad and R S Pande who had earlier been arrested for the violence and later released on bail.

Meanwhile, sources from the union said that there had been attempts by the company to freeze the dearness allowance of the workers. However, a senior company official dismissed as a routine development.