Loading and unloading workers at Parippally Indian Oil Corporation cooking gas refilling plant which supplies gas cylinders to the districts of Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Idukki, Alappuzha, Kottayam and Kanyakumari, have gone on indefinite strike demanding better salary and other allowances.
About 40 workers under the Kerala Petroleum and Gas Workers Union (CITU) and LPG Workers Congress have stopped work since Thursday. The service contracts of these workers expired in March and they have been demanding a hike in basic salary from Rs 5500 to Rs 7500 from the plant contractor.
The other demands include restoration of original bonus which was cut from 16 per cent to 12 per cent of the salary.
For loading and unloading gas cylinders, the pay of workers is currently fixed based on their work experience. The unions have demanded that all workers be paid at an uniform rate.
“We had given the strike notice on April 17 and since then five rounds of talks had been held. Though we are ready for further talks we will continue with the strike till our demands are met.” said V Ganesh, president, Parippally IOC unit, Kerala Petroleum and Gas Workers Union.
The bottling plant at Parippally has around 410 contract employees including lorry drivers, cleaners, housekeepers, loading unloading employees etc.