Around 2,000 contract workers of the Durgapur Steel Plant (DSP), a unit of Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), have disrupted normal work at the plant.
According to a company release, more than 2,000 contractor workers of the union stayed away from today and even forcibly stopped trucks carrying material from entering the plant.
However, the management is apprehensive that the situation over the past one week could affect work adversely, especially in the wake of the downturn.
Following the disruption of work and manhandling of five DSP executives, action was initiated against the workers belonging to the Citu-affiliated HSEU and HSWU on March 14. Contract workers of Citu’s United Contractor Workers’ Union (UCWU) were responsible for the disturbances in the plant leading to violence and manhandling of employees including senior executives in the presence of the general secretary of UCWU and hence his gate pass was withdrawn.
The action against the general secretary, led to today’s disruption. The management has appealed to the unions to restore normalcy.
“The current economic situation has had a major impact on the steel industry including DSP. The management is making all efforts to maintain highest levels of production with lowest cost where involvement of all employees and trade unions will be of prime importance,” said the DSP release.
There are about 5,000 contract workers in DSP and 12,500 permanent employees. The plant has a hot metal capacity of more than two million tons.
