Coal India Ltd (CIL) has bowed down to the demands of the trade unions and accepted some of the critical conditions put forward by them to finalise the wage hike pact for the five lakh workers it employs.This new wage hike pact, called the National Coal Wage Agreement (NCWA) VII, would impose an additional burden of around Rs 7,000 crore on CIL and would be spread over the next five years. The consensus between the five unions and the management was reached on Sunday morning and the wage agreement is now expected to be signed on July 15.The UPA government is working out ways to push reforms in the coal sector through amendments in the Coal Nationalisation Act.Talks on NCWA-VII, which decides the wage package for the period July 2001-July 2006 have been going on for over a couple of years. While consensus on issues such as basic pay (now fixed at Rs 5,550), DA, multi-skilling of workers had been reached, negotiations did not make progress as the unions and management of CIL failed to come to a common meeting ground on issues pertaining to compassionate appointment of workers, payment of arrears to employees of sick coal companies (BCCL and ECL) as well as on the interim relief for workers.At a meeting that took place between the management and the trade unions on Saturday in the presence of coal minister D.N. Rao, it was decided that Coal India would continue to provide the benefits outlined in the earlier NCWA VI until both sides come to a mutual agreement on how to sort out this issue.On compassionate appointment, the trade unions wanted CIL to follow what was allowed under the earlier wage pact agreement (NCWA VI), whereby a member of worker’s family would get employment even in the event of natural death. CIL, on the other hand, wanted to go by an apex court ruling and said employment should not be taken as a right.After discussions with the GoM headed by Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, it was decided that the law ministry’s opinion would be sought in this regard. However the unions still insisted on a continuation of what was agreed upon in NCWA VI.The unions issued a strike notice from July 18 that prompted the ministry to hold a meeting on Saturday. The strike has been called off now.On arrears to workers in the two sick coal companies awaiting a revival package from BIFR, the unions wanted these workers to also get the same benefits as their counterparts in the other CIL companies. This has also now been agreed and sources said the modalities would be worked out soon.
