Coal India, Unions Fail To Reach Consensus, Wage Deal Not Signed

Kolkata: The coal workers' unions and management of Coal India Ltd (CIL) could not reach consensus to sign a wage agreement, a union leader said on Thursday.

"The National Coal Wage Agreement-X, (NCWA-X) was not signed today (Thursday) as a consensus was not reached. There are points of diferences regarding the wage on rest days and compensation to contractual workers in case of any fatal accidents," B.K. Rai, representing the workers on behalf of Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh told IANS.

The year-long wage talks covering more than three lakh workers in the public sector coal industry had entered the final lap and a final accord was supposed to be signed on Thursday, which is the last scheduled working day of the miner's Chairman and Managing Director Sutirtha Bhattacharyya.

The meeting between miner's management and unions ended late in the evening. The next round of talks will be held on September 18.

The unions had initially demanded a 50 per cent salary increase and settled for 20 per cent after year-long negotiations.

The five-year wage pact covers the unionised workers in the miner's subsidiaries and NCWA-IX expired on June 30, 2016. In 2011, salaries were increased by 25 per cent.

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