The Hindu : INTUC flays move to cut KSEB staff salaries

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Sep 16, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala-Thiruvananthapuram

INTUC flays move to cut KSEB staff salaries

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Sept. 15. The INTUC-affiliated Kerala Electricity Employees' Confederation (KEEC) has said it would resist any move on the part of the Government to cut the salaries of the KSEB employees under the pretext of a financial crisis.

At a press conference here today, the leader of the KEEC, M. S. Rawther, said his organisation would observe September 17 as a `protest day' to express its objection to the efforts of certain top bureaucrats to `mislead' the Government about the real facts relating to the salary structure in the KSEB. The KEEC would hold demonstrations in front of all major offices of the KSEB in the State that day.

He said bureaucrats, including the Chief Secretary and three Principal Secretaries, who described themselves as a `high power committee', could not just like that slash the salaries of the KSEB employees one fine morning. The existing salary structure was on backed by a bipartite agreement between the employees' unions and the KSEB management and it had the protection of the law relating to labour disputes.

``These officials do not know anything about the factors that govern the wage structure in the KSEB. They have not gone even skin deep into the issue. Their suggestion (to cut the salaries in the KSEB) is a conspiracy to vitiate the atmosphere in the power sector. How can they come up with such a suggestion when they do not have even the statistics on what would be savings from such a step,'' he asked.

Mr. Rawther said the brief given to these bureaucrats was to prepare a report on the reforms that could be implemented in the power sector. Their report was to be submitted to the Council of Ministers for evaluation and a decision.

However, after a meeting lasting just two hours the other day, they went to the extent of announcing their `decisions' to the media as though they were the final authority on the matter. "Can anyone study the issues in the KSEB in two hours' time and come up with a magic solution,'' he asked.

Even the Ministers came to know about their `decisions' only from the media. Not even the minutes of the meeting was drafted when the media went to town with the salary cut story. "This, actually, is a gross act of disrespect to the Cabinet. Do these Secretaries think that they are a super Cabinet,'' he asked.

Mr. Rawther urged the Government to institute an inquiry into this `conspiracy' by the Secretaries to vitiate the labour relations in the KSEB and initiate action against them for their `machinations to cause problems for the Government'.

He alleged that the `wrong information' on the basis of which this so-called high power committee had built up its case for a salary cut in the KSEB had been furnished to it by the unions affiliated to the CITU and the AITUC.

The moment the officials gave their `decisions' to the media, the CPI(M) State secretary came on the stage to announce an agitation. "All these exercises were pre-planned by the conspirators,'' Mr. Rawther said.

He said the wage structure in the KSEB was based on the principle of workload, unlike in the Government services. This was why it was slightly on the higher side. Drawing a comparison between the two could not be accepted.

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