Duncan revives in Kanpur

Management talks the union around

The chances of the fertiliser unit of Duncan Industries Ltd (DIL) reopening soon have brightened.

BM Ritolia, president (works), Duncan's fertiliser unit, told Business Standard the factory might start in 14 days.

Striking a conciliatory note, IEL Employees' Union President Arvind Kumar had said the union had told the management that the management's difficulties were on account of the government and workers were not responsible for them.

He said the union wanted to start the mills and once that happened, the union would see what could be done to meet the demands of the management.

Earlier, the Duncan management had given an interim relief of Rs 10,000 to each worker and repaired the factory to bring it to a position where it could start. Subsequently, it appealed to workers through two letters, sent directly to their homes.

The first letter of May 14 said all preparations had been done for restarting the mills. The only stumbling block was the IEL Employees Union (CITU-affiliated), which "is not appreciating the gravity of the situation and not willing to recognise the fact that all the past agreements/settlements/ practices had been in the context of the then government policy".

But since a new pricing scheme for fertilisers has been introduced, drastically reducing the concession rate, "we have to adjust to the new conditions. Otherwise, whatever money is being invested in restarting the mills will go waste as the present structure is inherently unworkable".

It said in order to remain viable, DIL will have to reduce its cost by approximately Rs 42 crore from the 2001-2 levels. The management wants the cost cut by Rs 11 crore this year itself.

Amongst the major issues proposed by the management are: zero overtime; six working days a week; outsourcing packing jobs, manual loading, and allied services, canteen facilities, auxiliary local transport, security services, etc.

Other provisions are: The retirement age is to be rolled back to 58 years; the medical scheme will be based on the medi-claim policy; freezing of wages as on July 31, 2002, for three years; DA variations to be neutralised at Rs 2 per point; and the productivity reward scheme to be redesigned on 7.22 lakh tonnes per annum.

The new wage structure will apply to new appointees.

Ritolia said about 60 workers retired every year hiring would be on contract.

By 2010, the entire workforce will be on a fixed-term contract.

Seeing no response, the management issued another letter on May 27, reminding the workers that they "have already started losing Rs 20,000 on average a month."

Lease of hope

• The union has said the management's difficulties were on account of the government and workers were not responsible for them
• The union said it will see what can be done to meet the demands of the management once the mill is restarted
• Earlier, the Duncan management gave an interim relief of Rs 10,000 to each worker and repaired the to bring it to a position of start
• The major issues proposed by the management include zero overtime; six working days a week; outsourcing packing jobs, manual loading