Coal news and updates

Coal India unions strike extended to six days

December 18: Days after All India Coal Workers Federation (AICWF) announced a one-day strike on January 13, 2015, four other trade unions of Coal India Ltd (CIL) have called for a five-day strike from January 6.

The unions, which met on December 17, announced their decision to hold the five-day strike even as the coal minister has agreed to meet them on January 2.

“If required, we may extend the strike indefinitely,” a senior leader of the INTUC-backed union said.

The CITU-backed AICWF which has agreed to support the 5-day strike call had earlier threatened an indefinite strike unless the government withdraws the process of “denationalising the coal sector”.

“The Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act of 1973 does not allow private commercial mining. So the government has brought the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Bill to replace the old Act. This will have a catastrophic effect on the coal industry and the workers. We will fight tooth and nail to stop the government,” said a leader of AICWF.

Altogether, a six-day strike would lead to a production loss of around 7-8 million tons of coal and severely impact supply to the power sector.