SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, April 4: After 11 years, all the five national trade unions-INTUC (Indian National Trade Union Congress), BMS (Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh), HMS (Hind Mazdoor Sabha), AITUC (All India Trade Union Congress) and CITU (Central Industrial Trade Union) will sit together in JBCCI (Joint Bipartite Committee for the Coal Industry) meeting for National Coal Wage Agreement (NCWA XIth), scheduled on April 18-19 to decide the salary payment of 2.62 lakh miners of Coal India Limited (CIL).
The last time all the five trade unions sat together in JBCCI was on January 31, 2012 for NCWA 9th.
For the 10th NCWA, the JBCCI meeting constituted on October 10, 2012, INTUC was denied representation due to a factional feud (claim of Chandrashekhar Dubey and G Sanjeeva Reddy) and only four national trade unions BMS, HMS, CITU and AITUC participated.
For the NCWA XI, the JBCCI meeting constituted on July 1, 2021, INTUC was denied representation till the 8th meeting (January 3, 2023). But following the order of the Calcutta High Court on February 10, Coal India Limited has invited Indian National Mines Workers Federation (INTUC) to participate at the 9th meeting of JBCCI to be held in Kolkata on April 18-19.
In 2012’s NCWA IX, G Sanjeeva Reddy, Late Rajendra Prasad Singh, S Q Jama and Sriballav Panigrahi represented the INTUC in JBCCI. B Venkat Rao, GVR Sarma, Provat Goswami and Ram Avtar Alangkar were alternative members.
The JBCCI comprises members of the CIL top officials and representatives of the national trade unions and is the highest decision-making body to fix wages and other benefits for coal industry miners in the country. The JBCCI is constituted after every 5 years.
In the JBCCI, three trade unions-INTUC, BMS and HMS on basis of their miner’s membership strength have been given four members each while CITU and AITUC have three representatives each. Besides them, the same number of alternative members of all five recognized trade unions are also selected for the same.
“Participation of all the five trade unions at the JBCCI would have massive impact at the meeting on April 18-19 and representatives of trade unions would be able to negotiate with the management strongly and draw massive benefits for miners,” said A K Jha, Indian National Mines Federation senior vice-president and an alternative JBCCI member of INTUC.
JBCCI CITU’s main member and former MLA Arup Chatterjee when contacted said miners would be benefited if we are able to put up the unions united at the JBCCI, otherwise sitting five trade unions together would not impact the outcome.
