SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, Oct 14: A factional dispute in the Congress labour organization has again prompted the Coal India Ltd (CIL) management to deny representation to the Indian National Trade Union Cong (INTUC) in the Standardization Committee for National Coal Wage Agreement (NCWA)-IX.
In the Standardization Committee announced by the CIL, representatives of only four central trade unions, Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS), All India Trade Union Cong (AITUC) and Central Industrial Trade Union (CITU) have been included.
Senior trade union leader and AITUC alternative member of the Joint Bipartite Committee for Coal Industry (JBCCI) Lakhan Lal Mahto said that the Standardization Committee is not new. After the wage board agreement such a committee (comprising representatives of management and trade unions ) is formed for implementing the agreement.
“The committee would discuss solving the issues if that appears on the way in the execution of NCWA-IX. No doubt this time committee has been formed late but would discharge responsibility duly,” said Mahto.
The union leaders who have been included in the committee are Ramendra Kumar (AITUC), DD Ramanandan (CITU), Nathulal Pandey, Shiv Kant Pandey (HMS), Sudhir H Ghurde, and Mazrul Huque Ansari (BMS).
Notably, the Calcutta High Court on February 10, 2023, allowed Indian National Mine Workers Federation (INTUC) president Jayamangal Singh (MLA) to participate in the NCW-IX Agreement. But now CIL has ignored INTUC in the Standardization Committee.
The notification issued by CIL general manager ( men power and industrial relations) Gautam Banerjee said representation of INTUC has been kept vacant till resolution of its factional dispute.
The dispute between Chandrashekhar Dubey faction of INTUC and G Sanjeeva Reddy faction is in different courts. Both factions claim to be a real INTUC organization.
On April 6, 2022, the then-Cong national president Sonia Gandhi directed both Chandrashekhar Dubey and G Sanjeeva Reddy to withdraw cases against each other from court by April 30. Later on, December 25 after being elected national president Mallikarjun Kharge appealed to both factions to mend the fences. But cases are still pending in court.
