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Our Bureau

New Delhi, Nov. 17

The Oil Sector Officers Association (OSOA), which had threatened to go on indefinite strike from Tuesday, has deferred its agitation by a week following assurance from the Petroleum Ministry that the demand for higher pay package will be taken up by the Cabinet next week.

“The Cabinet will meet on November 20 to take up the proposal for higher wages for PSU staff. In view of this, we have deferred the strike by one week,” the OSOA President, Mr Amit Kumar, told reporters here today.

A Committee of Secretaries has approved higher wages for employees of all public sector units according to the recommendations of the Justice Rao Committee and the proposal is waiting for Cabinet approval.

The Petroleum Minister, Mr Murli Deora, had appealed to officers to keep the wider national interest in mind and desist from going on strike as such a move would cripple the economy by impacting oil and gas output and fuel supplies.

A one day strike would lead to a Rs 1,125-crore revenue loss for all the companies taken together and the Government too would lose more than Rs 100 crore a day in terms of excise duty, according to the estimates of OSOA.

“The Petroleum Ministry and I for one have always supported that PSU employees should be paid wages to stop attrition. We have also recommended to the Department of Public Enterprise for the same. But it is not in our hand. There is a process and the process has to be followed,” Mr Deora said.

The OSOA’s demands included categorisation of all oil sector PSUs in highest A+ category – thereby entitling workers to the best remuneration available for a government-sector company, introduction of open ended pay-scales, removal of 50 per cent ceiling on perks and allowances, five-year periodicity of wage revision and maintaining the same annual and promotion increment levels of four and six per cent already in vogue.

More Stories on : Trade & Labour Unions | Petroleum

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