CHENNAI: The Cement Manufacturers Association (CMA) is set to begin talks for the seventh nationwide wage settlement accord with major labour unions such as AITUC, CITU and LPF of DMK on Friday.
The wage settlement accord for the cement industry, renewed once in four years, is an important agreement and a document of reference for manufacturers and labour unions to maintain wage standards and industrial peace in the country.
“Even though a few industries like TANCET, Cement Corp and the Kadapa belt in regions of Andhra Pradesh are independent on CMA’s wage accord, they also consider this as an industrywide labour settlement nomenclature and pay their labourers in the same standards,” said India Cements’ Managing Director N Srinivasan, who will represent the CMA in the talks on Friday.
The previous wage settlement, which led to an increase in wages by about Rs 10,000, expired in March this year. The Rs 10,000 increase in wages constituted of about Rs 6,000 basic pay and the rest as dearness allowance, bonus and other increments for unskilled labourers.
The talks on workers’ compensation come at a time when the cement industry ails under lower cement price demand from builders, availability limestone deposits only in seven states in the country, a steady rise in input costs, transportation and weak demand for cement since 2011.
“In spite of the pressures looming in the industry, the CMA has been pushing for wages on par with other affluent industries. In 1989, when there was partial decontrol on wage rates, the industry had paid about Rs 2,700-Rs 3,000 for unskilled workers. According to the last agreement, workers at the same level have been paid Rs 34,000 including bonus and allowances,” Srinivasan said.
The veteran industrialist has served as the president of the Cement Manufacturers Association for five terms and has negotiated on amicable wage agreements for the entire industry.
The negotiations on Friday will happen with six federation unions, namely, AITUC, INTUC, BMS, HMS, CITU and LPF of DMK and will include 20-25 companies employing over one lakh labourers.