Andhra Pradesh

SCCL workers to elect representative union

Staff Reporter

Nominations to be filed from July 23

KOTHAGUDEM: Coal miners in the Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) are free to elect the union of their choice for the company level and area level representative status through a secret ballot. Arrangements are in progress for conducting the trade union election on August 9, according to the SCCL Chief General Manager (Personnel), M. Gangi Reddy. He said here on Saturday that the Regional Labour Commissioner (RLC) would ac as returning officer and some 76,511 coal workers would take part in voting at 102 polling booths and the counting of votes will be taken up on the same day.

The four year tenure of the INTUC expired on May 21 and hence the notification was issued for holding the elections in the company. All the major unions, including the INTUC, AITUC, TNTUC and the Telangana Boggugani Karmika Sangham, which polled nearly 80 per cent of the votes in the last election, had accepted the industrial relations policy of the company. They had nothing against the four-year tenure fixed for the representative status union.

But ten trade unions, which had polled about 10 per cent votes in the last election, had opposed the industrial policy as well as the secret ballot and the four year tenure system. They were out to scuttle the election process. They had also filed a wit petition in the high court. Whichever union got elected to the company level or the area level representative status would have access to the management in discussions on the issues pertaining to the coal workers. The majority union would have the right to conduct gate meetings with the workers and collect the membership subscriptions. As per the schedule released by the RLC, the contesting unions could file nominations from July 23 to 26.

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