Andhra Pradesh - Visakhapatnam

Port workers’ meet to focus on wage revision

VISAKHAPATNAM: National secretary of All India Trade Union Congress and honorary president of the Visakhapatnam Habour and Port Workers’ Union V.V. Rama Rao on Monday said that the five federations, representing harbour and port workers, would meet in Mumbai in December 13 and 14 to chalk out a plan of action for getting an honourable pay revision agreement for the workers. The crucial issue is the periodicity of wage revision. The federations have been insisting on five years. The periodicity of the last agreement was ten years. The federations boycotted a meeting held in October and following this the secretary of Shipping Ministry called for a meeting of federation leaders on November 7, but no agreement was possible.

Speaking to media persons here, he criticized the government for its ‘anti-labour’ policies and asserted that if the meltdown in US had minimal impact on India it was because of the stand taken by the unions. There was concerted attack on labour and their welfare.

The number of permanent workers in ports had come down from three lakhs to just 60,000 in the last 30 years, he said.

Welcoming the new chairman of Visakhapatnam Port Trust, Ajay Kallam, who took charge on Sunday, he assured constructive support to all decisions which were fair and non-discriminatory. The Harbour and Port Workers’ Union would always fight for their just demands, he said.

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