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DLB merger with ChPT -- Need-based manpower deployment

Raja Simhan T E

THE Madras Dock Labour Board (MDLB) is being merged with the Chennai Port Trust (ChPT). As a result, over 1,000 MDLB workers will become part of ChPT's workforce.

The merger process, which was initiated as early as October 1994 with the constitution of one-man committee, headed by Mr Y. Parthasarathy, former Deputy Chairman, ChPT, will be implemented in two phases, according to informed sources. In the first phase , the MDLB workers will be placed with a separate cargo-handling unit under ChPT's traffic department. In the second, the unit will be integrated with ChPT workforce from October 15, 2001.

A Memorandum of Settlement to this effect was signed last Friday and the 24 signatories included Mr P. Baskaradoss, Chairman, ChPT; Mr P. Venkateswaralu, Deputy Chairman, MDLB; Mr G. Kalan, General Secretary, Chennai Port and Dock Workers Congress (INTUC ); Mr P. Krishnaiah, General Secretary, Madras Harbour Workers Union (AITUC); Mr R. V. Umashankar, Executive Committee Member, Chennai Port Stevedores Association (CPSA); Mr R. Shanmugham, Vice President, CPSA; Mr V. Upendran, President, Chennai Custom H ouse Agents Association (CCHAA); and Mr G. Raghu Shankar, Secretary, CCHAA. Mr Ashok Thakkar and Mr Tony Adams, both members of the board of trustees of ChPT, were witnesses. The settlement would be sent to the Ministry of Surface Transport (MoST) for it to notify the merger, it is learnt.

Chennai port becomes the fourth port in the country, after Mumbai, Kochi and Mormugao ports, to effect merger of the Dock Labour Board (DLB) and absorb the dock workers.

``The MDLB-ChPT merger will bring in operational efficiency, cost-reduction, better utilisation of manpower and effective, need-based deployment of personnel,'' the sources observe.

Once the merger process is over, the sources point out, there will be a composite and need-based manning for deployment of the workforce. Wasteful and uneconomic labour practices, such as notional gang/dummy postings, will be eliminated, and the cargo-ha ndling cost will drop by around 25 per cent. Also, the deployment of dock workers will be done judiciously, wherever human effort and physical deployment is required, the sources add.

Following the merger, the manning scale is being rationalised in all categories to benefit the trade. This, in turn, is expected help the port management market the port.

Notified by the Centre in October 1956, the MDLB operates under four different schemes -- registered, listed, general pool and C&F -- catering to various cargo-related/operation-related areas. In 2000-2001, the combined revenue of the four schemes was ov er Rs 67 crore. However, following the merger, the four schemes will be integrated into the port trust's operations.

At Chennai port, the ChPT workers handle all shore-based (general cargo) and container terminal work, while the DLB workers handled on board and also on-shore activities.

The MDLB workers so far handled over 85 per cent of work at the inner harbour, while at container terminal it was the ChPT workers. As part of the merger, the MDLB introduced a VRS in April, for which around 350 workers opted. ChPT is also initiating a s imilar scheme to cut down on the size of shore workers by around 40 per cent. This is being done to accommodate the MDLB workers, sources observe.