The Hindu : Ordnance workers firm on strike plan

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 20, 2002

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Ordnance workers firm on strike plan

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI APRIL 19. Ordnance workers remained firm about going on a two-day strike next week to protest the move to allow limited foreign equity in the defence sector and proposals envisaging the restructuring of the country's 39 ordnance factories.

Talks with South Block officials and an appeal by the Defence Minister, George Fernandes, failed to bring about a change in the attitude of the union leaders, who apprehend the handing over of 12 factories to the private sector and 20 to the public sector and the retrenchment of 4,000 employees.

The unions alleged that the Government had not taken any decision on revising the pay scales of 40,000 highly-skilled workers although this has been done in the case of the Railways. The main unions leading the 1.5-lakh employees in the agitation are the All-India Defence Employees Federation (AITUC), the Indian National Defence Workers Federation (INTUC) and the Bharatiya Pratiraksha Mazdoor Sangh (BMS).

Mr. Fernandes had said that the time was inopportune for a strike because the armed forces were deployed in an eyeball-to-eyeball situation and any agitation would harm the country's security concerns. He also denied that there was a move to privatise the defence sector. In fact, the move to set up an ordnance factory in his Parliamentary constituency was proof that the Government had no intentions of privatising the existing factories.

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