KEC International's Butibori unit resumes operations after wage stir

Production at the Butibori unit of transmission tower manufacturer KEC International was badly affected over the weekend as workers suspended operations demanding a fresh wage settlement.

Production was, however, resumed after the management signed a fast-track wage pact at the residence of a top Bharatiya Janata Party leader.

The management of the RPG group company had earlier described the strike illegal and had pasted a notice to the effect in the unit's premises.

KEC International has 250-odd workers who had been demanding wage negotiations over the past six months.

A police bandobast was clamped near the factory premises. Though workers reported for duty in all three shifts, they whiled away their time. Workers said the management was threatening to close the unit and was not prepared to re-negotiate a new wage deal.

They said the management had written to their homes mentioning that they were drawing a salary of Rs 5,982 when the average gross salaries were between Rs 4,000 and Rs 4,300. The workers wrote back to the company's vice-president (manufacturing) Ram Kumar on Saturday stating that the second shift workers were told not to work by production manager Amol Bhople on Friday.

They said they had called upon the divisional manager (human resources), P G Mardikar, only to be told to agree to the management's proposal and then start work. Workers said by doing this the company was forcing them to strike work.

Senior executives of the company denied the allegations and said that the letter dispatched by the company was to explain the company's financial position, the market conditions, rising costs and the inadvisability of launching an agitation.

The management had mooted a proposal which would hike wages by Rs 2,000-2,200 per worker over the next three years. The rise was to be in fixed wages, incentives and bonus.

However, the management succumbed soon after and resolved the standoff within 48 hours by reaching a new wage hike agreement with the workers on Sunday.

The agreement was signed by KEC's managing director Ramesh Chandak and president of Bharatiya Janata Kamgar Mahasangh Nitin Gadkari, besides other company executives and union office-bearers.

The signing ceremony took place at Gadkari's Mahal residence. Workers' representative Gajanan Gawande said the issue had been amicably resolved.

As per the agreement, workers in Grade A will get a rise of Rs 2,250, while those in Grade B will get a rise of Rs 2,350 in the next three years. For Grade A workers the direct rise in wage would be Rs 1,200 in the first year, Rs 400 in the second year and Rs 400 in the third year (total Rs 2,000).

For Grade B workers the rise would be Rs 1,300 in the first year, Rs 400 in the second and Rs 400 in the third year (total Rs 2,100). The remaining rise would be in the form of provident fund, leave encashment, gratuity, canteen allowance and the newly-created attendance award, he said.

The parties also agreed to the amount of Diwali bonus for the three years. Accordingly, workers would get Rs 4,500 as bonus this year, Rs 5,000 in the second year and Rs 5,500 in the third year, Gawande said.

The agreement brings to an end to a dispute raised by the workers in February this year regarding wage hike. They had demanded a salary hike of Rs 3,000.

The other signatories to the agreement were vice-president (human resources), KEC, Dharmarajan, vice-president (manufacturing), K Ramkumar, divisional manager (human resources), P G Mardikar, divisional manager (production), Vimal Arya, vice-president of Bharatiya Janata Kamgar Mahasangh, Bhagwandas Rathi, general secretary R S Kanojia and worker representatives Gajanan Gawande, Purushottam Barkhede, Vasanta Nagpure, Rajesh Tembhurne and Lakhan Bhoyar.