HUBLI: The management of Kirloskar Electrical Company Limited’s (KEC) Hubli unit has announced a lockout from Tuesday following its differences with employees over wage revision.
The employees staged a protest on Tuesday opposing the management’s decision and demanded immediate re-opening of the unit.
According to sources, the stalemate between the management and employees existed for months but it reached a flash point last week when the workers refused to work. The management has offered a hike of `1,250 citing financial constraints as reason. But the employees are demanding more saying that their salaries have not been revised for two years.
On Monday night, the management reportedly sent the workers out of the premises forcefully and announced a temporary lockout. The other employees who were unaware of the management’s decision, came to work as usual on Tuesday morning.
On seeing the locked gates, they staged a protest and lodged a complaint with the Labour Department. KECL Employees Union general secretary C S Paul condemned the decision . “Neither has the management issued a notice to the union nor have they informed the Labour Department about the lockout....We are not getting salaries on time since nine months. The contract labourers have not been paid for two months,” he said. However, nobody from the management was available for reaction.