Report by Kamgar Ekta Committee (KEC)correspondent based on the report that appeared in the Indianpsu.com
It is now 3 years, since 41 ordnance factories were corporatized and distributed among seven corporations. Employees of ordnance factories have been opposing the decision to corporatize from the time it was announced. They rightly believe that corporatization of ordnance factories is the first step towards their privatisation.
After corporatization the performance of most of the ordnance factories has deteriorated instead of improving, which was claimed to be rationale for their corporatization.
Surprisingly, on 15 October a report has appeared in the media according to which seven ordnance corporations have increased their profit to Rs.1,549 Crore from Rs.35 Crore in 3 years. The report further said the YIL have earned Rs.425 Crore Profit, AVNL have earned a profit of Rs. 605 Crore and MIL has earned a profit of Rs.559 Crore.
Shri C. Srikumar, General Secretary, All India Defence Employees Federation (AIDEF), said that on what basis the Companies are claiming profit is not known, whether it is based on the CAG Audit report or on the basis of the supplies made to the Armed Forces or other customers and if the Companies are running on profit whether any dividend has been given to the Government of India, etc., nothing is known to us. The Management of the Companies have to announce such type of statements to satisfy the Government and in turn the Government have to state that the decision of Corporatization is a successful decision.
In fact, we have submitted a detailed report to the Defence Minister that the experiment of Corporatization of Ordnance Factories is a mis-adventure and a total failure. So far, the Defence Ministry have not bothered to give a reply to the reports submitted Jointly by the AIDEF, BPMS & CDRA, he said. The Defence Minister has repeatedly assured that there will be regular interaction by the MoD officials with the Federations and all their service related matter would be settled. Our innumerable representations on various service matter of the employees are thrown to the dust bin.
He added that the Company Management and the Government have to show case before the public that the Companies are performing well. However, the fact remains that the employees who produce the wealth for the 41 Ordnance Factories are totally dissatisfied and unhappy with the state of affairs. Post-corporatization there is a huge loss in the salary of the employees. To compensate the shortage of manpower and to meet the production targets for more than 6 decades the employees were detailed on overtime and they used to get overtime wages as a part of their pay packet. Now the overtime is completely stopped and wherever workload is there, the Management are resorting to large scale outsourcing and by recruiting employees on Fixed Term and on contractual. Apart from this, the direct production workers used to get Piece Work Profit based on their output & performance. The Piece Work Profit also has come down drastically and in many ordnance factories the employees are struggling even to earn their Minimum Time Wages.
The employees are Government employees and their wages cannot be reduced and if they are not able to earn their wages their Minimum Time Wages have to be guaranteed by the management as per Government orders and also as per the Minimum Wages Act. However, there is a gross violation and employees who are on Piece Work System are not even paid their Minimum Guaranteed Wages.
He asked what is the fun in claiming that the Corporations are running in Profit. Stoppage of overtime wages, Piece Work Profit have reduced the take home pay of the employees. Many employees have sold out their flats, two wheelers, four wheelers etc., as they are not able to pay the EMI’s. Many have taken Voluntary Retirement and death rate also has increased. Whether the Government or Companies have taken any proactive steps to address these issues. The answer is a straight “No”.
Previously, the employees used to get Productivity Linked Bonus based on the average performance of the 41 Ordnance Factories, Shri Srikumar informed. Now, each Company is announcing the bonus of their own and two Corporations, namely AWEIL & GIL have paid only the minimum bonus of 30 days. The TCL have not yet announced even the 30 days bonus to its employees. In the name of competition with the private sector, the Managements are reducing the labour estimates of the products drastically and the entire burden is being put on the shoulder of the industrial workers who are deployed on the Piece Work System.
The workers and their unions are fighting relentlessly against this injustice. For the past 3 years the appointment on compassionate grounds to the dependents of the employees who died while serving the Nation has been completely stopped. We have submitted several representations in this regard to the Government which are remaining unaddressed. Recently, we came to know that the Government is considering to transfer the employees unilaterally from one Company to another Company. Like this there are hundreds of problems the employees are facing. Neither the Government nor the Companies are having a positive approach towards the employees. Keeping the employees in distress, stress, and depression and claiming that the Companies are running in profit is a cruel joke.
Being a responsible and patriotic trade union so far we have not taken any decision to have a non-cooperation in the production activities. If at all the Companies have earned Profit it is only due to the hard work of the employees despite all their problems and difficulties. However, their interest is always neglected. Instead of claiming that the Companies are on profit because of Corporatization the Government as a Model employer should take care of the welfare and requirement of the employees, concluded C. Srikumar.