Major port and dock workers federations have opposed the Shipping Ministry's decision on the appointment of Judicial Commission for the revision of wages and other related service conditions for port and dock workers to be given effect from January 1, 2012.

The Federations such as Water Transport Workers' Federation of India, All India Port and Dock Workers' Federation, , Port, Dock and Waterfront Workers' Federation, Indian National Port and Dock Workers' Federation, which met at New Delhi recently decided to launch and prepare for a relentless fight against it.

Mr T. Narendra Rao, General Secretary, Water Transport Workers Federation said that instead of settling the issue of wage revision through Bipartite Wage Negotiating Committee (BWNC) as per the practice, the decision for forming the Judicial Commission was officially communicated to the labour federations by Indian Ports association on September 5.

The federations have already opposed this move as it felt that the present attempt of appointing the Judicial Commission instead of bipartism is against the principle of collective bargain, which has been followed in the port sector for several decades. This is nothing but an ill-motivated attempt to distract the trade union movement in the port and dock industry, he said.

All port and dock workers have unanimously decided to organise massive demonstrations at all major ports by the affiliated unions on September 29, he said.

The delayed tactics of the port authorities in finalising the Productivity Linked Reward (Bonus) scheme is also opposed by the federations.

The federations also appealed to the Shipping Minister, Mr G.K. Vasan, to intervene by taking cognisance of the situation in the port industry and the issue as well as protect the interest of the workers by constituting the BWNC and ensuring the productivity-linked reward (PLR) payment as early as possible, he added.

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