Indian Ports may face Strikes over unmet assurances in December

GOA : The National Coordination Committee of Six Federations of Port and Dock Workers met in the Indian state of Goa on 23rd November, to discuss their disdain for the fact that the government has failed to implement promises made in an effort to avert a previously threatened port strike.

At the meeting, the group, which is made up of the All-India Port and Dock Workers Federation, the Water Transport Workers Federation of India, the Port Dock and Waterfront Workers Federation of India, the Indian National Port & Dock Workers Federation and Bharatiya Port and Dock Mazdoor Mahasangh agreed that a strike is now back on the table.

If the strike should happen, it would begin on Dec. 17 and would be indefinite. Ahead of that date, union bosses plan to hold protests at the ports on Dec. 5 as a show of their angst.

The potential strike comes as a result of a reported failure on the part of the Indian government to force state-owned ports to implement the provisions outlined in the previously agreed upon settlement, which ended threats over an August port strike. Without the implementation, workers don’t reap the benefits of the negotiated contracts, particularly around increased wages and retirement benefits.

“We don’t know what is [the] reason for [the] delay,” a member of the union said at the meeting.

One representative from the All-India National Port and Dock Workers Federation said that the unions usually renegotiate workers’ contracts with the ports every five years. Typically, the agreed-upon settlement is then distributed to the ports, which are expected to put forth the required benefits to their respective employees. This time around, the Indian Ports Association (IPA) has failed to act since the final settlement was reached in late September, he said.

“Strangely, for reasons best known to some people in IPA, [they] were supposed to circulate this [settlement]…They did not do it, and we were kept under darkness. All the federations have written letter after letter, that already two months have elapsed and nothing is done. The only thing [they have to do] is forward this settlement to the respective ports, but they have not done it,” he said. “We are left with no option but to go for the indefinite strike from Dec. 17 onwards.”

The main pieces of the issue center around wage adjustments, pensionary promises and a retroactive productivity linked reward (PLR) scheme, which was designed to give workers a boost in pay for the work they did from 2020 onwards.

A revised version of the PLR was approved by the Union Cabinet of the Indian government in October. However, Infra.com reported that the unions noted that some of the ports’ former employees, who had already been retired by the time the benefits came along, did not receive the retroactive rewards they were owed.

“It is painful to note that till today no action appears to have been taken by the concerned to conclude a settlement before the labor authorities under the [Industrial Disputes] Act on the PLR scheme as envisaged in the MoU,” the unions reportedly said.

Retirees impacted by the government’s purported lack of action on the pension-related pieces of the settlement still in limbo, as well as by the uncertainty over the PLR, have made plans to demonstrate at the ports on Dec. 10.

As a result of the Goa meeting, the unions have decided that they and their affiliates will pen letters to the state-owned ports’ chairs to demand that the PLR and wage adjustment settlements be fully implemented by Dec. 15. If the ports fail to meet those demands by that time, the strike will ensue.

The threat comes just after positive October reporting from India’s ports; the value of the country’s exports increased 17 percent year over year, a welcome sign for authorities keen on the double-digit growth after seeing slimmer margins of growth earlier in the year.