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The Cochin Port Employees Organisation, one of the leading trade unions in the port, conducted a seminar on the subject ‘Does the growth of the port signals decline in jobs' to commemorate the death anniversary of an office bearer of the Organisation.
Speaking at the seminar, the Port Trust Chairman, Mr N. Ramachandran, pointed out that the commissioning of the ICTT at Vallarpadam and the LNG Terminal at Puthuvypeen will provide more job opportunities for thousand of workers employed in various shipping related activities in Willingdon Island. Admitting that there would be some job loss to limited section of private labourers employed in the port area, he said, this would be compensated by enhancing the CFS activities by Kochi Port.
The port workers who would be rendered redundant with the commissioning of Vallarpadam Terminal will be redeployed. The 300 employees who are on deputation to the DP World, will not lose their jobs as the port has already chalked out ways to redeploy them by expanding the activities related to the container freight station owned by the port, he said.
Unviable
Countering the arguments of the Chairman, the trade union leaders said that redeployment of labour is unviable unless the Rajiv Gandhi Container Terminal is retained as a container terminal. They pointed out that the denial of employment opportunities to the port labour is unjustifiable and this will have serious repercussions in the private sector labour.
Therefore the leaders were of the view that the present RGCT should continue to operate by the port for handling coastal containers. To revive the container terminal operations and to employ the labour, they suggested that the port should procure sufficient equipments, handle empty containers and also take up the stevedoring activities in a big way.
Mr C.S. Kartha, representing Cochin Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that the new contractor for lashing and unlashing work at ICTT should take steps to engage some of the workers currently doing the jobs in ships in the present terminal. Likewise, the CFS modernisation plans of the port management should provide more job opportunities for the labour. The management and trade unions should give preference to the workers for all future port related jobs Willingdon Island, he said.
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