CIL wage negotiations with trade unions: Any chance of adverse effect on fuel supply?

Coal India maintains cordial relations with Central Trade Unions and there is least chance of any adverse effect on fuel supply on account of wage negotiations, Parliament was informed on Monday.

Wages of non-executive workers, who account for over 90 per cent of Coal India's workforce, are revised every five years.

State-owned Coal India Ltd (CIL) maintains cordial relations with Central Trade Unions which have always helped in the country's coal sector growth, Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi said in reply to a query in the Rajya Sabha.

Negotiations between CIL management and representatives of Central Trade Unions operating in the coal sector under the Joint Bipartite Committee for the Coal Industry (JBCCI)-XI for finalisation of National Coal Wage Agreement (NCWA)-XI have taken place.

So far, five meetings of JBCCI-XI have been held between unions and CIL in a very conducive atmosphere.

There is least chance of any adverse effect on fuel supply on account of the wage negotiations, he added. 

CIL Chairman Pramod Agrawal had earlier said concluding a wage revision pact with coal workers is of the "highest priority" and the public sector enterprise is committed to reaching a deal amicably at the earliest.

The latest wage revision, which would benefit around 2.39 lakh non-executive staffers of CIL, has been due since July 1, 2021. CIL accounts for over 80 per cent of domestic coal output.

Coal India workers may go on strike in case of further delays in finalising their wage hikes, one trade union member of the coal behemoth had recently said.

According to industry watchers, the strike may hit the production of coal. This, according to them, may be a deterrent to the efforts being made by the government to ramp up the country's output to avoid recurrence of the fuel shortages which had happened in the peak summer months this year.

The shortage of coal had resulted to power outages in various parts of the country in April and May.