The employees of Aurobindo Pharma unit at Pydhibheemavaram in Srikakulam district staged a protest demonstration in front of the joint labour commisioner's (JCL) office here on Saturday and submitted a memorandum urging the official to intervene and do them justice, as "the management is creating a hostile atmosphere in the unit with its vindictive actions and we (the employees) are unable to attend to our duties."

The JCL, Mr Lakshiminarayana, was not there to receive the memorandum and it was left in his office by the Aurobindo Pharma Employees' Union affiliated to the Indian Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU).

The union also found fault with the JCL for not being in the office, even though he had been informed in advance of the protest programme.

According to Mr K Sanyasi Rao, the president of the union, and Mr S Suryanarayana Raju, the general secretary, the Aurobindo Pharma management had been seeking to break the union for quite some time and the latest instance of its "vindictive policies" was the manner in which it suspended 24 employees in connection with the Hudhud cyclone.

As Hudhud was a very severe cyclone, many of the employees could not attend to duties for two days and the union had also advised them to stay away for safety reasons and only 300-400 out of 2,000 or so of the employees could attend to duties.

These employees were either living near the unit or those who had remained in the unit from the previous day (the day before the cyclone).

"We have urged the management to pay wages for all the employees and consider it 'on duty' as it was a very severe cyclone. The other units in the industrial estate such as C.P Aqua have followed the same practice. The management has not only rejected our demand but resorted to serving notices on 24 employees from Oct. 26 and stopping them from attending to duties," they said.

>sarma.rs@thehindu.co.in

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