Trade union leaders stage protest demanding wage revision

Visakhapatnam: Demanding immediate implementation of 2017 wage revision, trade union representatives of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) and non-executive employees staged a protest laying siege to the administration building of the VSP here on Tuesday from 8 am to 1 pm.

As per MoU signed between management and unions for wage revision at National Joint Committee for Steel (NJCS) held in New Delhi in 2021, the trade unions demanded it to be implemented immediately.

Raising slogans against the management, the protesters tried to enter into the administrative building. The police blocked them from entering the building, resulting in tension between the police and agitators as they involved in jostling.

Speaking on the occasion, D Adinarayana of AITUC said the management of RINL assured that the wage revision would be pursued at the earliest. The workers of RINL are in deep anguish for the delay of six years as the wage revision was pending, he mentioned.

J Ayodya Ram of CITU stated that the delay in implementation of wage revision had never happened in the history of RINL. Mantri Rajasekhar of INTUC demanded implementation of wage revision at the earliest and added that the protests would be intensified otherwise.

The all-party trade union leaders demanded an immediate implementation of the new wage revision which was pending since 2017. They mentioned that workers are fighting against privatisation of the VSP on one side and working hard to keep the company on the path of profit without disrupting the production on the other. AITUC leaders J Rama Krishna, INTUC leaders N. Ramachandra Rao and Gangavaram Gopi, Varasala Srinivasa Rao, HMS, BMS leaders and other leaders participated in the protest.