CIL unions must concede
The Coal India miners’ strike was nothing more than an exercise in muscle-flexing. All that the trade unions have succeeded in extracting was a promise from the Centre that it had no intention to denationalise CIL. A committee comprising coal ministry officials and trade union representatives has also been formed to examine the unions’ concerns. It has not even been clarified whether this committee’s findings will become the basis for any future action. The strike was called to protest the issuance of the Ordinance amending the Coal Mines Nationalisation Act and the government’s plans to disinvest its stake in CIL. It is also noteworthy that both the coal minister Piyush Goyal or the trade union leaders are mum about an earlier reported plan of the Modi government to break up CIL by hiving off its seven subsidiary operating companies as independent public sector units. It has also to be assumed that the government’s plans for a 10% stake sale this fiscal will also be allowed by the unions considering that there is no danger of management control slipping out. While trade unions are entitled to take measures to protect their members’ interests they must accept that CIL is critical for the country’s economic security and that the ceasing of government intervention in the coal sector cannot wait any longer. With privatisation not an option, breaking up CIL into smaller PSU units appears to be the best short-term solution.Another proposed option is to grant CIL pricing freedom. CIL is forced to sell coal at low prices that do not reflect global market prices. However, pricing freedom for CIL would come at a great cost for power producers and domestic consumers making it politically untenable. With power needs growing, the unions should focus on better working conditions for their miners rather than mobilising ill-conceived strikes against much needed reforms.
Bhagwan Thadani
Pune
Coal sector needs reforms
Apropos of the edit “Coal breakthrough” (January 1), the calling off of the CIL miners’ strike is a major achievement of the coal minister. who was able to convince the unions that the steps taken by the government were dictated by the need to increase production and that the move will not affect jobs. Trade unions must realise that coal is major source of energy and our productivity has been very disappointing . Consider this: Coal India digs out about 1,100 tonnes of coal per employee per year, compared to the 36,700 tonnes in the US. Even as most of the employees of Coal India are semi-skilled, the cost per employee is R7.88 lakh per employee per year, by no means a low figure, considering the wages in the organised sector in India. The productivity per employee has to increase, both by the use technology and a motivated work force.
MM Gurbaxani, Bangalore
