The Hindu Business Line : Kochi port union raises contract recruitment issue with panel

THE Cochin Port Staff Association, a trade union in the Kochi Port, has brought to the notice of the visiting Parliamentary Committee on Subordinate Legislation, the issue regarding regular appointment of dependents in various categories in the port.

The association in a memorandum said there are about 245 dependents working on contract basis in the port and another 100 employees appointed into a `leave reserve pool' for perennial jobs since 1989.

In Kochi, there are about 1,500 posts still lying vacant. Since appointment is banned and several employees retired on super-annuation or opted for VRS, the union said the entry-level work in the operational side is actually shouldered by these contract workers.

According to the union, these workers aredeprived of social security benefits and the right to equal pay for equal work. Section 10 of the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act 1970 prohibits employing contract labour for work that is perennial in nature and also previously, if the work was done ordinarily through regular workmen.

Following the recruitment ban, the port management had made arrangements to overcome operational requirements by appointing workers on contract basis by making a lump-sum payment.

The issue of regularisation of dependents was also discussed in the board meeting of the port in July, and the board of trustees had resolved to request the Union Government to expedite and accord sanction to fill up identified vacant posts through compassionate appointments.

The officials had informed the board that the port had already filled up five per cent of the vacancies by compassionate appointments as per a government order.

According to port officials, only few ports in the country had filled up even the five per cent posts reserved for compassionate appointments during the ban period of direct recruitment from 2000 to 2004. However, dependents in Kochi were engaged on contract basis to alleviate their hardships. Some ports had even started deleting the names of dependents from the dependents list after three years, the officials said.

The port management had recommended to the Government to fill up 200 vacancies with dependents on a regular basis due to representations made by the Cochin Port Staff Association to regularise contract appointment against regular vacancies. So far, the Government has accorded no sanction in this regard.

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Kochi port union raises contract recruitment issue with panel