UP official wants LML lockout lifted

The labour commissioner of UP, Sharda Prasad, has recommended that the lockout imposed by the LML management in Kanpur be lifted and the workers wanting to join work taken back.

I this failed to materialise, the lockout should be prohibited for the next six months.

In a letter addressed to the labour principal secretary, Prasad said his views were based legal opinion.

He said, "LML has applied for being declared a relief undertaking, which means it wants to start production. In such circumstances it should lift the lockout and take back all those workers willing to work, and start production."

If the UP government finally accedes to the recommendation of the labour commissioner and does prohibit the lockout, it will be the first instance, in the past 17 years when a lockout has been prohibited by the state government. The last case was on May 17, 1989, when the lockout in JK Cotton was prohibited, within two days of its imposition.

LML workers' union President Dayanad Pandey said, "The change in the labour commissioner's position has come about because of the persistent mass actions resorted to by the combined strength of the workers of closed factories of the city. They had staged demonstrations before the commissioner's office, and in Lucknow demonstrated at the secretariat and participated in other activities, which brought about sufficient pressure on the administration to issue the letter."

If the lockout is prohibited, workers are entitled to full wages since its imposition.

The letter has boosted the morale of the LML workers, as their earlier plea for registration of their newly formed union had been rejected by the registrar of the trade unions.

The workforce of LML is sharply divided between those who want a total and final settlement, and those who are against any such settlement and are keen that they continue to stake their claim to their job and ensure that the management pays them the wages for the period since the imposition of the lock out.

The later faction is far larger then the former. The management too wants that the workers should stage an exit by making a final settlement, which will facilitate the reopening of the company.