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UCIL talks fail as mgmt, unions yield little

The tripartite between the four unions and the management of the Uranium Corporation of India Ltd, the country?s sole uranium producer, came a cropper on Wednesday at Dhanbad as each side yielded little at the negotiations held in the presence of the regional labour commissioner (central).

The tripartite between the four unions and the management of the Uranium Corporation of India Ltd (UCIL), the country?s sole uranium producer, came a cropper on Wednesday at Dhanbad as each side yielded little at the negotiations held in the presence of the regional labour commissioner (central).

According to Hari Bhagat, assistant secretary of the Singhbhum Uranium Mazdoor Sangh (SUMS), the management offered only a 1% increase on its earlier offer of 18% hike in the basic and dearness allowance of the 4,500-odd workers of the corporation.

The unions are demanding that the UCIL management either gives the workers a 27% hike in their present basic pay plus dearness allowance, together with two extra increments as a ?minimum benefit? or it offers the same package which workers of the coal industry received 21 months ago, a 24% pay hike together with other benefits.

Meanwhile, work was stalled for the eighth consecutive day on Thursday, with the unions estimating that the per day loss being incurred by the corporation stood at Rs 1.50 crore, which meant a loss of around Rs 12 crore for UCIL so far.

?It seems the strike will drag on for some time now,? observed Bhagat. The SUMS assistant secretary said the situation had changed drastically now as workers had become adamant about continuing with the strike and would not settle at anything below a 24% hike plus other benefits that has been given to coal industry workers.

Speaking to FE today, UCIL general manager (administration) K Mahali said Wednesday?s talks remained ?inconclusive? as the unions were intransigent on their stand of a 27% pay hike.

Mahali too felt that the strike could prolong quite a bit. Asked how the department of atomic energy (DAE), of which UCIL was an integral part, was reacting to the strike, the UCIL general manager said, ?Compared to the worry the DAE would convey (on such situations) earlier, this time around they don?t seem to be that worried.”

Though the general manager would not quantify the loss the corporation was incurring each day, he said there were savings involved too for UCIL in terms of consumption of power, chemicals, etc, as also on workers? wages which amounted to around Rs 40 lakh a day as ?no work, no pay? was in force.

As to what the management?s next stand would be, the UCIL general manager said the corporation would chalk out its next step once the negotiators from Dhanbad returned later today.

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First published on: 16-10-2009 at 00:51 IST
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