Coal India officers put stir on hold till mid-Nov as festive season looms

The officers have been protesting over remuneration, pay parity, and promotions, besides other issues

After staging a demonstration at the head office of Coal India, the company’s officers have now postponed the agitation till November 15 in view of the approaching festive season.

CMOAI, a body comprising executives from state-run coal companies, is spearheading the agitation where around 19,000 officers in this state-run coal mining company are participating.

Their demands include rationalisation of wages between the company’s executive and non-executive staff, remunerations at par with other public sector enterprises, especially ONGC, and pending promotions besides issues related to vigilance mechanism and company policies.
 

Announcing the deferment of their strike, the officers said it would give Coal India “ample time to deliberate and decide on their key demands”.

“The festive season is also coming soon and the company’s senior management, besides the ministry, will take some time to discuss our demands. Thus, we have decided to postpone our agitation. We will take a call on the future course of action when this deadline expires," V.P. Singh, president of Coal Mines Officers’ Association of India (CMOAI) said.

The CMOAI members have warned of a strike and industrial unrest if the company fails to meet their demands. They have been wearing black badges September 10 onwards to mark their protest. They also staged the demonstration at the company's head office on Wednesday.

According to a senior company official, the issue, now pressed by CMOAI, started with a pay-scale revision of the executive and the non-executive staff, where in some instances, the non-executive staff are paid more than the officers and gradually, “other issues also came in which has been now taken up”.