SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, Jan 3: Finally, the central trade unions’ leaders and authorities of Coal India Limited (CIL) signed an agreement on Tuesday late evening in Kolkata to give a 19 per cent Minimum Guarantee Basic (MGB) to miners under the 11th National Coal Wage.
One of the JBCCI members and senior All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) senior leader Lakhan Lal Mahto informed on the telephone from Kolkata and said that the trade unions and CIL authorities amicably solved the issue on 19% MGB in the interest of 2.28 lakh miners.
The sources said when the meeting started in the morning in Kolkata the management was not ready to give more than 15% MGB while trade union leaders (JBCCI members) refused to scale down from less than 20% MGB.
Finally, at 19%, both stakeholders agreed to finalize the 11th NCW agreement. In the 10th NCW agreement, miners were given 20% MGB.
The sources said the trade union leaders were in a divided house at the meeting today. The JBCCI members of the Central Industrial Trade Union (CITU) and Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS) were not agreed to 19% MGB while Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) and All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) expressed willingness to accept.
Finally, after talks, the representatives of all four trade unions agreed on 19% MGB.
