Lockout At Paharpur Cooling Towers Unit

The management's decision to deduct from the bonus entitlement in proportion to the number of days of unauthorised absence had irked the workers.

The union launched a nine-and-half-hour gherao on September 19, the day bonus worth Rs 12 lakh was to be distributed among 234 workers.

General manager works, R Banerji, said the company could pay bonus to 30 workers only.

The management claims that the deductions were made under Sections 12 and 13 of the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965, which stipulate the manner in which the bonus will be calculated for workers whose salary is between Rs 2,501 and Rs 3,500 per month.

 

The management has so far been paying bonus at the rate of 20 per cent against the minimum stipulation of 8.33 per cent.

Corporate personnel manager Pururaj Dutt said the average bonus after deduction worked out for each worker would have been Rs 5,500.

However, the workers refused to comment on this matter before their union meeting.

Dutt said the lockout is resulting in the loss of about Rs 13.5 lakh every day and delay in important projects and export orders.

The company was to export NC Towers to F C Schaffer and Association, USA, by mid-October at the latest. Paharpur's factory at Oil Installation Road is the only one that makes NC Towers. Export orders to Malaysia also stand to be delayed.

The company's project of changing the cooling tower and heat exchangers of the Mathura refinery has also been suspended because of the lockout.