The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Port container terminal workers go on strike

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 20, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Port container terminal workers go on strike

By N. Ravi Kumar

CHENNAI, JAN. 19. Employees of the Chennai port's privatised container terminal went on strike on last evening, disrupting the export-import trade using the facility.

The protest, demanding compensation for a worker's family who died in harness, resulted in containers piling up in the terminal and trailer-trucks lining up on the roads leading to the facility. According to trade sources, the employees, who have decided to give one-month's salary to the deceased worker's family, wanted the management to contribute an equal amount, which works out to Rs. 64 lakhs.

In a communication, the Chennai Container Terminal Employees Association referred to a January 17 management letter, which says it would "contribute an amount equal to the contribution from the employees through the union to the family of the deceased."

According to trade estimates, about 3,500 import containers have been stranded in the port, while 1,500 containers with export cargo are waiting in and around the terminal. Nearly 400 trailer-trucks are lined up along the road, causing hardship to motorists.

Call for action

A senior functionary of a leading industry chamber said such agitations became a regular feature at the terminal and it was time the Shipping Ministry and the Centre took a serious note of the issue. Apart from a 13-day strike in May, the terminal was witness to several flash strikes. Trade sources say about 20 mandays were lost.

The Chennai Container Terminal Limited (CCTL), private management of the facility, convened a meeting of the chambers of commerce and industry this evening.

Sources in the shipping circle said the chamber representatives urged the management to seek legal opinion for action that could be initiated against the workforce.

They said the employees association last year assured the Regional Labour Commissioner that the workforce would not go on strike for 30 years.

The management, the sources said, was urged to seek legal opinion to declare the strike illegal and serve notice on the protesters giving them a timeframe to return to work. Suitable action should be initiated against those who failed to comply, including withdrawal of their entry passes.

The strike period should also be treated as a break in service, the sources said.

Another suggestion made by the chambers to the CCTL was to bring employees from other places and resume operations at the earliest.

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