Pressing for immediate wage agreement, among other demands, several trade unions resorted to strike at all SAIL units, including the Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP), on Wednesday. Members of CITU, BMS, INTUC, AITUC, Gangpur Mazdoor Manch of RSP and HMS staged dharna in front of the RSP’s main gate and power gate. They restrained workers from entering the plant hampering its operation. As tension continued till long, police personnel deployed on the spot intervened to bring the situation under control. Another group of union members staged a demonstration at Bisra Square. After the virtual meetings of the National Joint Committee on Steel (NJCS) held consecutively for six days till Sunday failed to finalise wage revision of SAIL workers, unions had earlier threatened to shut operation at all units. Meanwhile, the RSP authorities termed the strike as illegal.Higher officials managed operations of plant with the help of contractual workers. Notably, SAIL non-executives’ wage revision is pending since January 2017. The public sector steel workers’ wage agreement is revised every five years by the NJCS comprising representatives of SAIL management and the central trade unions. Following the strike notice, the SAIL had started wage negotiation in the NJCS meeting from June 22. In a partial success, its offer of 13% growth in Minimum Guaranteed Benefit (MGB) enhancement on basic pay and DA was accepted. However, the NJCS meeting ended abruptly on Sunday with SAIL rejecting demand for growth of perks at par with SAIL executives.
