DAYS after the federal government determined to transform Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) into seven Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs), the federations of ordnance manufacturing unit staff affiliated to the Left, the RSS and Congress have mentioned in a joint round that they may serve the discover for an indefinite strike on July 1 and start the nationwide strike on July 19 towards the federal government’s determination.
The BJP-led Union authorities had on Wednesday introduced its determination to dissolve the 220-year-old Kolkata-headquartered OFB and restructure it into seven new DPSUs, which can govern the 41 ordnance factories throughout the nation and be absolutely owned by the federal government. The seven company entities are anticipated to be shaped by the top of 2021. The three federations which have put up a united entrance towards this transfer 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.
On Sunday, the presidents and normal secretaries of the three federations held a digital assembly. A joint round issued after the assembly said, “The meeting took a very serious note of the manner in which the government has dismantled the ordnance factories and sabotaged the future of the committed workforce of these factories. The meeting also expressed its serious concerns of various violations by the government.”
The round added that amongst varied choices taken through the assembly have been, “To explore the possibility of legal action in consultation with senior lawyers…It has been decided to serve the strike notice for indefinite strike on July 1 and commence the nationwide indefinite strike on July 19. The decision of commencement of the indefinite strike will be informed to the government on June 23.”
The round concludes, “The federations call upon the employees of ordnance factories to understand the serious implications of the government decision to splinter the ordnance factories into seven corporations, on the existence and survival of the majority of factories and also the serious repercussions on the service matters, job security, wage protection, terminal benefits etc and be prepared to fight back…”
Federation officebearers mentioned that Chief Labour Commissioner (Central) will likely be served the discover on July 1 whereas regional labour commissioners will likely be served notices by the regional staff’ our bodies. The copy of discover will even be served to the employer, the Department of Defence Production of the Ministry of Defence. The three federations have been to go on strike on October 12 final yr however had deferred as conciliation talks via the Chief Labour Commissioner have been launched. In spite of sturdy opposition from the three primary employee federations, the Ministry of Defence had been taking concrete steps in the direction of changing the OFB into 100 per cent government-owned company entities. The OFB, an umbrella physique for ordnance factories and associated establishments, is at present a subordinate workplace of the MoD and is a conglomerate of 41 factories, 9 coaching Institutes, three regional advertising centres and 5 regional controllers of security.
While a minimum of three committees on defence reforms arrange by the governments between 2000 and 2015 have really helpful corporatisation, it had not been carried out until now. The notion of corporatisation was listed as one of many 167 ‘transformative ideas’ to be carried out within the first 100 days of the Narendra Modi authorities’s second time period. One of the primary apprehensions of the staff is that corporatisation would “eventually lead to privatisation”. Another key concern has been that the company entities won’t be able to outlive the distinctive market surroundings of defence merchandise that has very unstable demand and provide dynamics. They additionally concern job losses.
