Port workers withdraw strike

Port and dock workers’ unions today withdrew their threat of indefinite strike from September 15 after a government-brokered agreement on pay with their managements.

Five federations, representing 60,000 workers across the 12 major ports, reached a consensus with their employers on a 23 per cent hike over basic pay, to take effect for a five-year period beginning January 1, 2007.

“We had scaled down our demand from a 34 per cent to a 30 per cent hike over basic pay this morning. Port managements were not willing to go beyond 18 per cent. The (shipping) minister intervened to resolve the stalemate,” said Mohan Bellani, Secretary of the All India Port and Dock Workers Federation, the dominant one.

Talks on wage revisions have been on for over two years. The ministry of shipping had constituted a 24-member Bipartite Wage Negotiation Committee (BWNC) in 2007, comprising an equal number of members from the five worker federations and the port managements to settle the issue. With talks breaking down on August 27 this year and the unions threatening to go on strike, the minister decided to intervene.

“The first round of meetings held in the morning had been inconclusive. The port managements were not in favour of an increase beyond 18 per cent, due to constraints imposed by declining traffic. The minister intervened and urged for a consensus by evening,” a senior ministry official said, on condition of anonymity.

A nationwide strike would have crippled operations at the major ports, leading to a shortage of many goods and a rise in prices, if it had got prolonged.