Steel Employees Trade Union rejects wage revision of steel workers

Rourkela: CITU affiliated Steel Employees Trade Union (SETU) today said they would resort to an indefinite strike in the steel industry from January 5, 2010 if "genuine demands" of workers were not settled by the year end.

Rejecting the MoU signed by three trade union bodies with SAIL on wage revision of workers, SETU president Bishnu Mohanty said, "We are not at all ready to accept the illegal memorandum of understanding signed by some of the unions with SAIL on November 29, 2009 at the National Joint Committee for Steel (NJCS), as the unions are not recognised in steel plants."

"CITU and INTUC are the recognised unions in different steel plants in SAIL and HMS and AITUC which signed the Mou have lost their representative character as they are not recognised", he said.

The SETU had been demanding 28 per cent minimum guaranteed benefits (MGB), fringe benefits at par with executives, wage settlement of contract workers and payment of Rs 1000 declared by the steel minister for contract workers from September 2008.

SETU will organise a rally in front of Rourkela steel plant on December 18 and later serve strike notice to the management, Mohanty said.