Coal news and updates

CIL unions stick to strike decision of March 29

Even as the management of Coal India Ltd (CIL) tries to persuade the unions to call off their proposed strike on March 29, the All India Coal Workers’ Federation (AICWF) said on Friday that the unions would stick to the one-day strike as per schedule.

“As of now, we do not see any reason to back off from the strike. We cannot confirm if there will be a meeting with CIL. Even if a meeting takes place, our programme will remain unaffected. The main issue is disinvestment of CIL, which the company management has little to do with,” an AICWF source told ICMW.

He further said that the coal ministry has called a meeting with the unions, but “that meeting is pre-arranged and has nothing to do with the proposed strike.”

Overall, more than 450,000 coal workers, including the contract workers, would take part in the strike at Coal India subsidiaries and Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL), he said.

Apart from withdrawal of the disinvestment programme, the unions have demanded implementation of the recommendations of the high-power committee on contract workers’ wages, he added.