Nearly 60% of non-management staff of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL)-Kochi Refinery are taking part in the 48-hour strike called by workers of BPCL against what they alleged were attempts to privatise the company in the guise of pay reform.
A statement issued by the workers said a total of 4,570 workers, led by 13 unions in BPCL Mumbai, Kochi Refinery and marketing sectors of BPCL, were part of the strike. They alleged that the management made moves to split the unions.
They said there was a move to grant the company management the right to review terms of 10-year service contracts after June 2020. They feared it would place workers at the receiving end in view of the likely privatisation of the company before March 2021. “A private management would then be free to amend the terms of service of the workers,” said a statement issued by the workers on strike.
“The workers are being forced to accept that retirement benefits including PF and gratuity would only be available to them if the company stayed in the public sector,” said the statement.
The strike is being led by Cochin Refineries Workers Association at BPCL Kochi Refinery (CITU), Cochin Refineries Employees Association (INTUC), the Refinery Employees Union and the BPCL Mazdoor Sangh (BMS).
The protest on Monday was inaugurated by CITU national secretary K. Chandran Pillai.
Meanwhile, the company issued a statement saying that it had held four rounds of discussions with the unions on the disputed long-term settlement of non-management employees and had given an offer. The strike had taken place despite the High Court restraining the workers from doing so, as the conciliation process was under way. The strike, it said, had not affected petroleum product availability in the market or the refinery operations.