A city-based Central PSU claimed Wednesday that one of its senior officials was "gheraoed" while another was threatened with "dire consequences" by trade union members.
"Our CFO (Chief Financial Officer) M C Bansal is the victim of act of militant trade unionism. A gherao by the labour union of the senior management since last night with unreasonable demands caused the CFO to fall sick and had to be hospitalized," managing director of Hindustan Steel Works Construction Ltd (HSCL), Neelesh Kr Shah said.
HSCL is a subsidiary of National Buildings Construction Corporation Limited (NBCC) India since 2017 after it was transferred from the Union Steel Ministry to Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
NBCC now holds 51 per cent stake in HSCL.
The agitation is led by HSCL Contract Employees Association and is patronised by the Trinamool Congress, he alleged.
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"We had complained to the Hastings police station but the police did not take any action until morning after the CFO fell sick," Shah said.
Moreover, the CEO of the company, K P Swamy, who came to the city en route to Ranchi for a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) audit, was also threatened with dire consequences if he attended the meeting, he saud.
HSCL claimed it witnessed similar agitation last year after NBCC attempted to shift its corporate office to Delhi.
But, the management had fulfilled their demand by dropping the office relocation plan and agreed to maintain employees' status with an agreement on August 14, a Human Resource official of the company said.
According to Shah, the problem arose with 188 contract workers, whose contract is to be terminated on October 5 thus year.
"We had extended the contract by another year to protect their jobs," he said.
Shah said they have written to Chief Minister's office, labour commissioner, IG Police and others apprising them of the situation.
"These employees want to terminate the contractor and they be brought under direct employment," he said.
INTUUC-backed Hindustan Steel Construction Contract Employees Association leader Soham Roy denied any gherao but said they tried to prevent the management from attending the CAG audit meeting.
He said they were holding discussion on the fate of the 188 contract workers but due to the BJP-called bandh on Wednesday, they preferred to stay back.
He claimed these employees do not get employment benefits like PF, ESI and gratuity since 2006 and the management was trying to suppress the issues.
Total employee strength of HSCL is about 500-525 and 478 contract workers.
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