DAYA News Bureau, 7th October 2022: Durgapur is witnessing a massive workers’ agitation movement in recent times. Though most of the national media has not reported the news, but the Durgapur Steel Plant (DSP), a unit of Steel Authority Limited (SAIL) is seeing worker’s protest demanding festive bonus. The most unprecedented part of this whole protest has been the fact that all seven major trade unions including, CITU, BMS, INTUC has been jointly carrying out this protest movement.
The affiliated trade unions of SAIL at the second bonus meeting held at Delhi on 24th September, just before the Durgapu Puja, scaled down their annual bonus demand from 69,000 INR to 45,000 INR, but the management from its initial offer of 25,000 INR increased the offer 26,000 INR, which the unions’ representatives rejected out rightly.
The SAIL management has called the next meeting on 10th October 2022, thus diluting the sentiment of Durga Puja festivity of the Bengalis, said one of the union leader. This is perhaps for the first time, in the history of SAIL that that workers at IISCO unit in Burnpur and DSP-ASP unit in Durgapur having mostly Bengali workers had to negotiate with a ‘no bonus’ situation.
After negotiations on annual bonus failed, workers at the DSP unit of SAIL embarked upon joint protest under the leadership of 7 operating trade unions. The unions took a proactive role and organised conventions jointly for reporting bonus issues outside gate number 1 and 2 of Durgapur Steel plant on two different dates, 27th and 28 September far away from entrance gates for a brief period.
DSP management served show cause notices to Simanta Chatterjee, secretary HSEU (affiliated under CITU), Rana Majumdar (committee member of HSEU), HMS leader Gautam chattopadhyay and Manas chattopadhyay of BMS who participated in the agitation program.
On 6th October, after the Durga Puja fervor ended, a massive program was successfully undertaken at the ED works building jointly by all the functioning trade unions demanding withdrawal of the show cause letters issued to the four employees and early signing of bonus agreement. . The large gathering unanimously voiced support for the show caused employees.
CITU General Secretary and NJCS member Tapan Sen in a letter written to Chairman SAIL has urged for immediate intervention in the matter which he termed as utterly vindictive attitude of the management of Durgapur Steel plant. In the letter he further added that management might not agree to the contentions of the unions on bonus issues along with other issues relating to wage revisions of both regular and contractual workers, but that does not entails the management to become intolerant and towards the right of collective expression of the opinion and dissent through constitutional means.
DIKS (affiliated under BMS) president Samir Singha Roy in his letter to the Director in-Charge of DSP has expressed surprise over the issue of serving show cause notice to 4 employees, which he said might create a situation of unrest and tension affecting the production and productivity of the plant.
One of the agitating worker pointed out that, in spite of achieving best ever production and highest ever profit due to tireless work of permanent and contract workers neglecting the COVID pandemic, the attitude of SAIL management seems out of any logic. Though SAIL has shown absolute generosity in increasing the salary of its executives, taking a large part of the huge profit of SAIL in the name of PRP, their disapproval of the workers’ annual bonus has sent a very indecent message across the board.
Another worker said, the executives themselves designed the PRP route to amass starting with 1 lakh and up to 11 lakh, each from the profit coffer. The workers of DSP is showing the path and are burning from inside to give a perfect answer to the humiliation. CITU office bearer Sourav Dutta said that unless the management withdraws the show cause letter unconditionally the meeting of 10th October will begin on a different note.