Dept of Defence Production ‘violating’ conciliation settlement, federations complain to Chief Labour Commissioner

The three important federations of ordnance manufacturing facility staff have complained to the Chief Labour Commissioner that their employer, the Department of Defence Production (DDP) of the Defence Ministry, is violating the conciliation settlement reached between them final October, when the federations had deferred their deliberate strike in opposition to corporatisation of the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB).
In spite of sturdy opposition from the three important employee federations, the Ministry of Defence is transferring ahead to transform the OFB right into a 100 per cent government-owned company entity.
The three federations are — All India Defence Employees’ Federation (AIDEF) of Left unions; Bhartiya Pratiraksha Mazdoor Sangh (BPMS), an arm of RSS-affiliate Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh; and Indian National Defence Workers’ Federation (INDWF) of the Indian National Trade Union Congress.
The three federations had known as for a nationwide strike on October 12 final yr in opposition to the Centre’s transfer to corporatise OFB. However, the workplace of Chief Labour Commissioner (Central) had sought conciliation proceedings underneath provisions of Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, which have been held three days earlier than the proposed strike date. The strike was then deferred because the federations and representatives of the DDP reached an settlement which acknowledged, “After prolonged discussions, it is agreed that since the matter is sensitive and requires discussions and deliberations at the highest level of government, therefore representative of Employer said that the meeting with Secretary, Defence Production and Empowered Group of Ministers can be arranged so the unions can put forward their issues and grievances pertaining to the disputes before them. Union representatives stated that till the pendency of conciliation proceedings in ongoing Industrial Disputes, no change should be made by the Employer. It is agreed by both the parties that in respect of strike demands, during the pendency of ongoing conciliation proceedings, the Employer will abide by the provisions of Industrial Disputes Act and Unions will not proceed with the proposed strike.”
In a grievance filed with the Chief Labour Commissioner on Wednesday, the Presidents and General Secretaries of those federations have stated, “While the federations and the trade unions at the unit level are fully implementing the conciliation settlement, the DDP has started violating the settlement. The DDP issued a letter allowing the consultancy firms to proceed with its work for recommending the modalities for implementation of Corporatisation. The DDP has not maintained the status quo and has allowed the consultants to proceed with their visit to various Ordnance Factories and to submit their report.”
The grievance goes on to checklist varied strikes taken by the Defence Ministry in the direction of corporatisation within the latest previous, like, “On March 10, the MoD asked all the Ordnance Factories to give a detailed report about the land holding, surplus land, unutilised land to proceed with the Corporatisation move. On March 24, OFB issued instructions to all the GMs to provide various datas pertaining to the Ordnance Factory Schools with the intention of proceeding with the corporatisation decision.”
The grievance concludes, “From all the above developments it is amply clear that the…Department of Defence Production represented by the Secretary (Defence Production) has cheated the workmen and their Trade Unions and also has blatantly violated the conciliation settlement dated October 9, 2020 by ignoring provisions of the Industrial Disputes Act, which is binding on the DDP.”
The ordnance factories community contains 41 factories divided into 5 operational divisions of the OFB and constitutes a defence manufacturing conglomerate with one of many widest vary of merchandise on the earth.
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The authorities’s transfer to corporatise the OFB has been met with opposition from the federations of staff from these 41 ordnance factories and allied items throughout India. Their opposition has introduced collectively an unlikely entrance of federations affiliated to the RSS, the Left and the Congress.
On Thursday, these federations additional wrote to Jual Oram, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence, looking for appointment with the Committee to debate the subjection of corporatisation and the views of the 80,000 ordnance factories workforce.