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Move to suppress 850 posts in four TN thermal units

Our Bureau

CHENNAI, Jul. 16

THE trade unions of the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) have protested against the Board's proposal to do away with 860 posts at the four thermal stations.

Mr. S. Pancharatnam, General Secretary of the Central Organisation of the Tamilnadu Electricity Employees (COTEE), said that the TNEB proposed to take a decision to this effect shortly. The Board has already suppressed 130 posts at its headquarters and t he issue has been taken to court by the Engineers' Association concerned.

The Board proposes to suppress 27 posts of executive engineers, 201 Assistant Executive Engineers, 566 Engineers and 86 other posts. The total staff strength is around 2500 at the four thermal stations at Ennore, North Chennai, Mettur and Tuticorin, he s aid.

He said that all the unions concerned including the COTEE, engineers' associations and sangams and workers' associations and sangams representing the majority of the 1.2 lakh employees have protested the proposed move by the Board. They have submitted a letter expressing their protests. The unions were likely to take a decision on further course of action if the Board went ahead with the reduction, he said.

The proposed reduction in posts is based on the recommendations of the National Productivity Council. But, according to Mr. Pancharatnam, the TNEB has entered into a bi-partite settlement with workers on July 8, 1998 that the NPC's recommendations would be implemented only after discussions with the unions.

The number of posts, staff strength and workload have been arrived at through appropriate settlements between the board and the workers' representatives. But the reduction in the number of posts was being carried out unilaterally without regard to the co nsequent changes in the workload, he said.

While acknowledging that the workforce per MW was higher in the thermal stations in Tamil Nadu, he said that the operational efficiency was also higher. For instance, at a model thermal station such as Vijayawada unit in Andhra Pradesh there were approxi mately four workers per MW. In Tamil Nadu it was 5 or 6 but the efficiency of operations was also much higher here. The reduction in posts could jeopardise smooth operations, according to Mr. Pancharatnam.

Meanwhile, the unions are likely to meet with the Board later this month to further discuss the proposed restructuring of the TNEB. Earlier, the unions had insisted on being provided a copy of the recommendations of the consultants, Ernst and Young on th e restructuring, before further discussions. The copy has been provided and the unions were discussing the issues, he said.

On the 27th, the COTEE has organised a national level convention to protest the proposed Electricity Bill 2000 that will pave the way for restructure and privatisation of the state electricity boards. The unions were opposed to the privatisation, but wer e willing to cooperate on improving efficiencies within the existing framework, he said.