The Hindu Business Line : Coal cos, unions sign wage pact

THE state-owned coal companies today signed the seventh National Coal Wage Agreement with the five Central trade unions representing some six lakh workers.

This would mean an outgo of Rs 8,760 crore for the five-year period of 2001 to 2006.

Out of this Rs 8,760 crore, Coal India Ltd will pay Rs 7,300 crore for 2001-06 to its five lakh workers and Singareni Collieries Company Ltd will pay Rs 1,460 crore to its approximately one lakh workers.

The Minister of State for Coal, Mr Dasari Narayan Rao, termed the agreement as "historic" stating that this is for the first time in 15 years that all the unions had signed the agreement with the management.

Also for the first time the agreement provides for 100 per cent dearness allowance neutralisation and substantial hike in basic pay and social security, he said.

The agreement was signed by the Joint Bipartite Committee for Coal Industry that has representation of both the workers and management in the presence of the Minister.

Under the agreement, the minimum basic wage for category I has been revised from Rs 3,300 to Rs 5,550 per month amounting to an increase of about 68 per cent.

Basic pay at the minimum of all scales and grades have also been revised commensurately. The revised minimum wage will be Rs 6,205 and maximum wage Rs 13,652 against pre-revised wages of Rs 5,019 and Rs 12,031.

Minimum guarantee benefit for each worker will be Rs 1,185.39 per month or 15 per cent of the pre-revised basic pay plus Rs 300 whichever is higher.

The rate of annual increment has been revised in line with the system prevailing in other PSUs. It will be 2.50-3.00 per cent of initial basic pay against Rs 50 to Rs 200 in the previous agreement.

The Life Cover Scheme and ex-gratia payment have been increased by 33 per cent and 20 per cent, respectively.

Arrears will be paid to those who separate from service on various accounts. For others, modalities of payment will be worked out jointly at the earliest, keeping in view the revival packages of Bharat Coking Coal Ltd (BCCL) and Eastern Coalfields Ltd (ECL).

The Minister said it was unfortunate that the agreement was signed after four years and expressed the hope that the next agreement would be completed in time. He said he would have separate meetings with the workers' union and the management to work out a strategy to increase production.

"I will also meet the secretary and members of my department to workout a blueprint for the welfare of the workers," he added.

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