SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, Jan 7: The Rashtriya Colliery Mazdoor Union (RCMU), the miners’ frontal organization of the Indian National Congress, today said that it is unfortunate to keep the Indian National Trade Union Cong (INTUC) out of the 11th Coal Wage agreement meeting held in Kolkata on January 3.
At today’s meeting, RCMU executive president Brajendra Prasad Singh said that the RCMU has 49,000 members in the coal sector. Despite it, INTUC was kept out of the 11th coal wage meeting resulting in no one raising miners’-related issues, he added.
The RCMU announced to gherao Koyla Bhawan, the headquarter of Bharat Coking Coal Limited in February in protest against left outs.
“Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had nationalised the coal industry to give miners a respectable life but the present Narendra Modi government is suppressing the trade unions and denying due to miners,” said Brajendra Prasad Singh (who is also the senior vice-president of the state Cong committee and chairman of State Disciplinary Committee).
The executive president said that the RCMU has written to union coal minister Prahalad Joshi about it and has asked to include INTUC in the 11th coal wage agreement.
“The RCMU would not accept any agreement on coal wage until INTUC is included in it,” said Brajendra Prasad Singh.
For the last two years, Coal India Limited has kept INTUC out of the JBBCI meetings due to a faction feud in the organisation and pending cases in courts. At the Kolkata meeting in January, only four national trade unions, BMS, AITUC, CITU and CITU were invited and INTUC was not invited.
Former Jharkhand minister and RCMU executive president Manan Mallick said that it is ironic that despite strong membership in the coal industry, the INTUC has been denied a place in the wage board agreement.
RCMU general secretary AK Jha alleged that the exclusion of INTUC from meetings is a conspiracy of the central government to weaken the organisation.
“It is a sad matter but RCMU would not accept any agreement on 11th coal wage that is signed without INTUC,” he said.
