BENGALURU: While the management of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) believes that the disruption in production caused by the indefinite strike by the workers can be made good over a period of time, workers say the losses will be serious. This is part of the dichotomy that exists between workers and management on wage settlement -- an issue that has led to more than 20,000 union employees of HAL boycotting work since Monday. The management said it’s prepared to offer an 11 per cent hike in fitment and 22 per cent in perks, but the union is insisting on a 15 per cent fitment hike and 35 per cent in perks, the latter on par with the officer level.
Suryadev Chandrashekar, chief convenor of All India HAL Trade Unions Coordination Committee, told TNIE that were different slabs of wage increments for different levels of workmen. “A senior union cadre employee with long years of experience, for instance, will gain by 15-17 per cent overall, whereas a middle category will hardly get 10-12 per cent. Employees lower down the pyramid are at the receiving end with lower perks.”
Differences between the management and union also exits on the periodicity of the revised wages. While the management contended that the reference time-point ought to be December 31, 2011, the workers insist on the base to be December 31, 2006. Director of Finance Anantkrishna said officers are getting a 50 per cent hike since 2007 while for workers, it’s a cumulative hike of 59 per cent.
Refusing to reveal the losses per day, Ananthkrishna said the losses due to the protest will not have much impact as the HAL will make good in days to come. However, union leader Suryadev told TNIE based on the year’s financial forecasting, HAL is looking at a loss of Rs 53 crore.