The Steel Executives’ Association (SEA) has said that salary cut for the employees of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited-Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (RINL-VSP) is unfair.
“The VSP, in fact, owes more than ₹2,400 crore to the employees in various forms, payable for the past 14 years,” leaders of the association claim.
Demanding that the circular on slash in salaries issued on August 20 be withdrawn immediately, the union leaders submitted a petition to in-charge Chief General Manager (Works) U. Sreedhar recently.
According to SEA president Katam SS Chandra Rao and secretary K.V.D. Prasad, the break-up of some of the dues is as follows: ₹1,600 crore (third PRC), ₹258 crore pension (SBF) as per 2007 wage revision, ₹50 crore (SBF arrears for the financial year 2021-22), ₹21 crore (productivity linked incentive), ₹190 crore (pending dues of PF & SBF), ₹40 crore (leave encashment scheme).
“Due to the financial condition of the company, we have not been insisting on payment of the dues. But now, the company has taken a decision to cut our salaries without even consulting the SEA members,” rues Mr. Chandra Rao.
“Salaries are not being paid on time for the past one year. Thousands of officers have defaulted on payment of EMIs to banks. More than 300 young officers have resigned and hundreds are retiring. With replacements not taking place, the officers are working under severe pressure. Therefore, we request the management to immediately withdraw the circular on salary reduction,” says Mr. Prasad.
‘Harassment’
Apart from salary cuts, the management is also “harassing the workforce in the name of biometric attendance system,” they allege.
“Attendance is not getting recorded due to a technical problem in the equipment and software. But the management has started issuing notices to the employees, which is ridiculous. There are many shortcomings in the biometric system for contract workers,” says Mr. Chandra Rao.
