CIL staff protest pay disparity

Coal India’s junior staff are protesting against the disparity with other public sector utilities. A WhatsApp message circulated among the Coal India staff points out the company’s independent directors are being paid in line with directors of ONGC but the salaries of junior grade employees are not on a par.

Some employees tweeted their photographs wearing black armbands. The tweets tagged the Twitter handles of Coal Minister Piyush Goyal and the prime minister’s office. “We will always be two grades below other Maharatna PSUs. Remind the company to walk the talk. When they talk about Gen Next, why do they want Coal India’s Next Gen officials to lag behind,” one of the messages stated.

The Coal India board will take a decision on wage revision on November 25 where it is expected executive employees will present their case to the company’s chairman and managing director, Gopal Singh.

A Coal India executive said ONGC staff were paid better than those of Coal India. ONGC revised its pay scales in 2007 and the oil ministry approved the revision.

“Coal India missed the bus in 2007. This time, too, the revision in Coal India and ONGC pay-scales has been in accordance with guidelines of the department of public enterprise. We are ready to support their (the junior staff’s) demands if an appeal is made. But we have to take it up separately,” the executive said.

He added executives seeking higher pay would have to justify the revision to the company’s management after which a board decision would be taken and forwarded to the coal ministry for approval.

Under a policy approved by the Union Cabinet on Wednesday central public sector undertakings will be free to negotiate wage revisions with workmen where the periodicity of wage settlement of 5 years or 10 years has expired on December 31, 2016. The companies’ managements will have to ensure that the negotiated scales for workmen do not exceed the existing scales of pay of executives and nonunionised supervisors. “The wages of executives at the lowest level are higher than the highest wage a non-executive employee is entitled to, which stands at ~47,000 a month,” a Coal India executive said.

On Tuesday, the Coal Mines Officers Association of India wrote to Coal India, submitting inputs for adjustment of pay for executives. The letter compared wages at Coal India and ONGC. There are 1.2 million employees in 320 central public sector undertakings. Wage revision for unionised workmen is decided by trade unions and managements in accordance with guidelines issued by the department of public enterprises.

The CIL board will take a decision on wage revision on Nov 25, where it is expected employees will present their case to Chairman & Managing director Gopal Singh