NEW DELHI – Operations at 11 major ports across the country have been affected as the port and dock workers resorted to an indefinite strike as scheduled at midnight on Monday in response to the joint call given by five federations. They are demanding a wage revision.
The strike, which became inevitable after the failure of the talks between the Union Surface Transport Minister, Mr. Rajnath Singh, and the federations’ representatives here, was said to be by and large peaceful. However, at the Calcutta port the agitated workers were lathicharged, it was alleged. The Government confirmed that there was a mild use of force when the workers obstructed officials from entering the port.
The Centre today put into operation a contingency plan. The Navy, the Coast Guard and the Territorial Army are moving in to assist the port authorities for loading and unloading operations. Contingents of naval officers and sailors have been deployed at all the major ports for manning the essential services.
The workers claimed that the strike was not only successful but also complete and that the ports operations had been paralysed. The All-India Port and Dock Workers Union general secretary, Mr. Anthony Pillai, whose federation has put forth a common charter of demands, said that “according to information available with us, the strike is 100 per cent successful. The talks with the Government broke down because the Minister was not willing to give a written assurance to satisfy our demands”.
The most contentious of the demands relate to the period of wage settlement. The five federations spearheading the agitation are insisting on a revision and wage settlement every five years as was the case earlier. The other two major demands pertain to the rate of House Rent Allowance and the date from which the HRA and City Compensatory Allowance would be payable.
Mr. Rajnath Singh admitted that the ports work had been hit but would not say to what extent. It would take some time before an assessment could be made.
Ironically, addressing his first press conference as the Central Minister, Mr. Rajnath Singh regretted that the labour representatives who were assured of a sympathetic consideration of the demands, had walked out of the talks with officials even without getting back to him. He appealed to them to return to the table.
Asserting that it was a challenge which “we have accepted”, he said the situation would be dealt with effectively. Various departments and agencies had already created buffer stocks. The Minister refused to comment when asked if he would invoke the Essential Service Maintenance Act to deal with the strike.
The Federation of Indian Export Organisations urged the workers to call off the strike in the national and their own interest. The Centre of Indian Trade Union congratulated them for the “successful strike” and condemned the Calcutta incident, claiming that 29 employees suffered injuries in the lathicharge by the CISF.
