ROURKELA: Even as the second breakdown of Blast Furnace-V (BF-V) in Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) of SAIL has eroded the prospect of RSP’s early economic revival, various trade unions continue to mount pressure on the management for festive ex gratia (bonus).
BMS-affiliated Rourkela Ispat Karkhana Karmachari Sangh (RIKKS), the recognised trade union of RSP, on Tuesday held a meeting and decided to serve strike notice. RIKKS general secretary HS Bal said BMS has decided to serve strike notices to all SAIL units across the country if the management fails to make bonus announcement by Wednesday afternoon. He said they have demanded bonus to 13,470 employees of RSP and other SAIL workers, which should be more than last year.
In 2014, SAIL had paid bonus of Rs 18,040 to each employee of RSP. But in 2015, SAIL had refused bonus citing huge loss. However, it had to give a bonus of Rs 9,000 after pressure from trade unions. The bonus amount was Rs 10,000 in 2016.The AITUC-affiliated Rourkela Steel Mazdoor Union and smaller unions like Kalinga Ispat Shramik Sangh, Rourkela Shramik Panchayat, Hindustan Steel Workers’ Association and Steel Employees’ Association led by senior AITUC leader Pravat Mishra had staged a demonstration on Monday. Mishra said they want 20 per cent bonus for RSP employees.
On September 9, the INTUC-affiliated Rourkela Shramik Sangh had also demonstrated seeking bonus for regular and contractual workers of RSP before Durga Puja. General secretary of the Sangh Prashant Behera reiterated the demand for bonus of Rs 18,040. The bonus demand of employees is legitimate as production and productivity of RSP has increased. Behera attributed the loss to SAIL’s failure to sell products and frequent breakdowns.
Working president of HMS-affiliated Rourkela Mazdoor Sabha AC Mohanty demanded bonus of Rs 25,000 for RSP workers.Meanwhile, Bal said the BF-V, which suffered a breakdown at 4 pm on Sunday, is likely to be revived by Wednesday evening. Notably, BF-V had gone out of production from third week of May for nearly 15 days due to breakdown followed by days of production loss at the New Plate Mill for similar reason.