VISAKHAPATNAM: Workers of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant went on a one-day strike from 6 am on Tuesday demanding wage revision and also withdrawal of plans for strategic sale of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), the corporate entity of VSP, and other SAIL units.
The steel workers union leaders gathered at the plant early in the morning even before the start of the first shift at 5 am. They took out a rally and staged a sit-in, raising slogans in support of their strike. As many as 14 of the 15 workers unions of the steel plant are participating in the strike. Steel plant unions are elated as their strike call received overwhelming response from workers.
There are 11,500 non-executive workers and 16000 contract workers in the plant. 85 percent of the workers are participating in the strike, union leaders said.
President of the recognised steel plant union J Ayodhya Ram said the workers participated in the strike voluntarily and they did not force anyone to join the strike. He said everyone realised the need to achieve the twin objectives of the workers.
The unions were protesting against the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) plans to speed up the privatisation of the plant. They are demanding wage agreement on 15 percent minimum guarantee benefit (MGB), 35 percent perks on revised basic pay like other PSUs and nine percent pension.
Both permanent and contract workers are participating in the strike. The RINL management made arrangements by deploying executives and officers in different shifts to ensure that production was not affected.