NMDC Worker Unions Continue Protests Amid Ongoing Wage Revision Talk

State-owned iron ore miner NMDC on Sunday said worker unions are staging protests despite negotiations underway over the wage revision. It has already intimated to the Chief Labour Commissioner (Central) in the national capital that the trade unions have resorted to a 'willful' slowdown of work and work-to-rule with effect from March 6, NMDC said in a statement.

The most recent wage revision occurred in 2017, and the next one was due in 2022, according to NMDC.

The charter of demands was submitted by the unions on Feb. 27, 2023.

The NMDC management acted swiftly and reached a consensus with the trade unions within eight months. In August 2024, the bilateral sub-committee submitted its recommendations.

An agreement has already been reached between the trade unions and NMDC management in connection with the wage settlement.

The matter was referred to the steel ministry for their confirmation.

The NMDC management has been pursuing the case with the ministry and has been timely updating the union leaders about the outcome.

The state-owned firm said it has also informed the ministry that the strike has severely affected the production at the NMDC, which is already battling to meet the annual target of 48 million tonnes for FY25.

The production has fallen by over 60% in the last couple of days posing a big challenge for the company to even achieve the output recorded in the last financial year.

The strike will certainly have an adverse impact on the company's books. Consequently, the workers may have to pay the price if the company registers poor physical and financial performance in the current fiscal.

The management has been appealing to the trade unions to avoid taking extreme steps as it is not in the interest of the nation, company and even employees.

"Despite the repeated plea, trade unions resort to illegal strike," it said.

Around 4,000 workers under the influence of union leaders are protesting at various mining operations, a company source said.

Hyderabad-based NMDC owns and operates three iron ore mines in the Bailadila complex in Chhattisgarh and two in the Donimalai complex in Karnataka.