Ordnance factory employees firm on one-month strike call

Unions representing civilian employees of the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) on Sunday said they would go ahead with a one-month strike to oppose the government's corporatisation plans, even as the Ministry of Defence "reiterated" it has no plans of such privatisation.

The three recognised federations representing civilian employees at 41 factories of the OFB had given a call for a month's strike from August 20 against the proposed corporatisation of the ordnance factories.

A defence ministry communique, however, said the government is not thinking on the lines of privatisation of the factories.

"OFB chairman and director general, Ordnance Factories, Saurabh Kumar reiterated that there is no plan on the part of the Government to privatise the ordnance factories," the communique said.

In continuation of the meeting held on August 14, a committee of senior officials of the defence ministry led by additional secretary, Department of Defence Production, along with the OFB chairman, had once again met the office-bearers of the federations on August 16 regarding the strike.

"The committee explained to the employee organisations that there is no proposal to privatise OFB. The proposal under consideration of government is to make it into Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs), which is 100 per cent government owned," the ministry had said in an earlier statement.

"Rumours being spread that OFB is being privatised are misguiding and with the intent to mislead the workers...," it added.

The federations, however, were not content with the explanation and remained firm on their proposal to proceed on a one-month-long strike commencing from August 20.

The three federations, in a joint statement, said, "The government has arbitrarily taken a decision to convert the 41 ordnance factories into a corporation/public sector, with the ultimate intention of privatising these factories by disinvestment."