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NLC talks: Deadlock continues

Our Bureau

CHENNAI, May. 20

THE wage negotiation between the management of Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) and its workers, led by the NLC Workers Progressive Union, continues, and the union is set to announce an indefinite strike, according to LPF President, Mr Sivanthan Chetty.

Mr Chetty told Business Line that on the third day of the work-to-rule agitation, the deadlock in wage negotiations between the workers and management continues. The union affiliated to the Labour Progressive Federation (LPF) is sticking to its stand of an average wage increase of 130 per cent across the various categories of workers, he said.

Unless a middle ground is reached, the union has decided to go on an indefinite strike from Monday. A decision to this effect had been taken at the union's executive council meeting held recently. The strike would mean that power generation from both the thermal units, and the mining operations would be brought to a complete halt. Power supply in Tamil Nadu would be severely affected, he said.

Currently, generation was being maintained at around 200 MW at thermal station I compared to its normal capacity of 600 MW. At thermal Station II 800 MW was being generated against a full capacity of 1,470 MW. Lignite movement is only at sufficient level s to meet the limited generation requirements, he said.

Mr Chetty said that the wage negotiations relate to maintaining an average of 130 per cent increase across the eight categories of workers, W1 - W8. The actual percentage increase in each category ranged from 107 per cent in W1 to about 183 per cent in W 8 depending on seniority of service. The executives, grouped under 10 categories had been sanctioned a wage hike of 130 per cent. The workers were particular that the percentage parity in hike should be maintained, he said.

The wage negotiations had been pending since 1997 when the previous settlement period ended. The current negotiations for a 10-year period covers nearly 14,000 workers, he said.