The five major trade unions representing the workers of Coal India have decided to go on a three-day strike from September 23.
The strike has been called to oppose the Government’s move to divest shares in the company.
“Yes, now it is final. All unions are going on strike,” said S.Q. Zama, Secretary-General of INTUC, one of the unions.
Coal India workers are represented by five trade unions: INTUC, HMS, BMS, AICWF and AITUC.
The unions met in Ranchi on August 18 to discuss the issue and decided to serve notice of the three-day strike. A statement to this effect was sent to the Coal Secretary and Chairman of Coal India.
On August 7, one of the trade unions, All India Coal Workers Federation of India (AICWF), had said it would go on strike from September 19 to 21.
AICWF has now announced that the strike will take place between September 23 and 25.
Disinvestment
Meanwhile, the Government has already kicked off the process to disinvest its holding in Coal India Ltd.
It was hoping to garner nearly Rs 20,000 crore by selling 10 per cent of its holding. However, under pressure from the unions, it was decided to limit the sale to five per cent of the Government’s equity. At present, it owns 90 per cent of the company.
Going ahead
The Coal India disinvestment is being seen as one of the most important share sales to meet the Government’s divestment target of Rs 40,000 crore in the current fiscal.
On August 8, the Department of Disinvestment, which is part of the Finance Ministry, advertised for the appointment of merchant bankers and selling brokers for the divestment.
The Government plans to disinvest the stake through the offer-for-sale (OFS) mechanism, better known as the auction method.
Other demands
In addition to opposing the share sale, the workers want coal mining to be given infrastructure status.
They also want captive mines allocated to the private sector but yet to be explored to be allocated to Coal India.