Major ports invite agitating workers for discussion next week ahead of strike call

Major ports operators have invited representatives of the ports and dock workers' unions for a discussion in New Delhi on Tuesday next week to avert an indefinite nationwide strike call given by employee federations from August 28, a source said on Friday.

The worker unions at a national coordination committee meeting in Tuticorn (Tamil Nadu) on August 8 decided to strike work indefinitely from August 28 to press for immediate settlement of wage revision and benefits, pending for more than two years.

Subsequently, strike notices were served to the administrators of the respective ports on August  12.

Meanwhile, Mumbai Port Authority Chairman, Rajeev Jalota, told PTI that a meeting of the Bipartite Wage Negotiations Committee has been called in the national capital on August 28 to consider the workers' joint charter of demands. Jalota is also the chairman of the Bipartite Wage Negotiations Committee.

"We have already started deliberations with the workers' representatives. We have invited them on August 27 in New Delhi for discussions on their demands. We are hopeful of an (amicable) solution," the source said.

The workers unions are affiliated to five federations  All India Port and Dock Workers' Federation, All India Port and Dock Workers Federation (workers), Water Transport Workers Federation of India, Indian National Port and Dock Workers Federation and Port, Dock and Waterfront  Workers Federation of India.

According to sources at the India Port and Dock Workers Federation (workers), the major port operators and the federations were to sign a five-year wage revision agreement prior to the expiry of the earlier wage pact on December 31, 2021.

There are 12 major ports in the country, which employ around 20,000 permanent workers, as per the sources.

The Shipping Ministry set up a Bipartite Wage Negations Committee comprising representatives of port management and federations in March 2021.

The five federations in September 2021 submitted their joint charter of demands for the revision of wages, retirement benefits and other conditions of service of Group C&D of the port and dock workers from January 1, 2022, he said.

Later, the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS also submitted separately its charter of demand for the wage revision to the Committee, he said.

The Bipartite Wage Negotiations Committee, unfortunately, has met only seven times in more than two years, he said.