ROURKELA: Five Central trade unions (TUs) and a group of local TUs of the Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) on Friday staged a protest in Bisra square demanding SAIL to pay festive ex-gratia and other dues before Durga Puja.
Members of the locally-affiliated unions of the central unions - BMS, INTUC, CITU, AITUC and HMS along with Gangpur Mazdoor Manch and several others joined the protest to build pressure on RSP and SAIL.
President of the BMS-affiliated Rourkela Ispat Karkhana Karmachari Sangh (RIKKS) HS Bal criticised the SAIL management for postponing the festive ex-gratia negotiation to the next NJCS (National Joint Committee on Steel) meeting on October 10.
“The five NJCS trade union members’ demand for Rs 45,000 festive ex-gratia is legitimate in view of SAIL reporting record profit in 2021-22,” said Bal adding that despite that, the SAIL stuck on its decision to provide Rs 26,000 and postponed further negotiation to October 10, marring the festive mood of the workers.