Employees Remain Losers While Ordnance Factory Corporations Claim Profit : C. Srikumar, General Secretary, AIDEF

It is now 3 years, since the Modi Government has carved out 07 Companies from the erstwhile Ordnance Factory Board. Government made announcement of Corporatization of Ordnance Factories with lot of Fanfare. The employees are fighting against the decision and a legal battle is also going on. The employees are demanding that they are recruited as Government Employees and that they do not want to join the Corporations and therefore the Government should publish a notification retaining their status as Central Government Employees / Defence Civilian Employees till their retirement in the respective Ordnance Factories where they were working prior to Corporatization as assured by the Government in the Madras High Court in the case filed by the AIDEF.

Today, a report has come out in certain sections of the media that the 07 Companies carved out of OFB see Profits soar to Rs.1,549 Crore from Rs.35 Crore in 3 years. The report further says the YIL have earned Rs.425 Crore Profit, AVNL have earned a profit of Rs. 605 Crore and MIL has earned a profit of Rs.559 Crore. On the one side the employees are claiming that they are subjected to heavy loss and harassment post-corporatization and that none of their demands and grievance are settled by the Government and that they are a neglected lot, and on the other side the Companies are claiming huge Profits.

To find out the comments / views of the employees on the claim of the Government and the Corporations that the Companies are running on profit, we approached C. Srikumar, General Secretary of All India Defence Employees Federation, which is in the forefront and fighting against the Government Decision of Corporatization of Ordnance Factories. His response is published here for the information of the viewers of www.indianpsu.com –

C. Srikumar stated that on what basis the Companies are claiming Profit is not known, whether it is based on the CAG Audit report or on the basis of the supplies made to the Armed Forces or other customers and if the Companies are running on profit whether any dividend has been given to the Government of India etc., nothing is known to us. The Management of the Companies have to announce such type of statements to satisfy the Government and in turn the Government have to state that the decision of Corporatization is a successful decision. In fact, we have submitted a detailed report to the Defence Minister that the experiment of Corporatization of Ordnance Factories is a mis-adventure and a total failure. So far the Defence Ministry have not bothered to give a reply to the reports submitted Jointly by the AIDEF, BPMS & CDRA. The Defence Minister has repeatedly assured that there will be regular interaction by the MoD officials with the Federations and all their service related matter would be settled. Our innumerable representation on various service matter of the employees are thrown to the dust bin. The Company Management and the Government have to show case before the public that the Companies are performing well. However, the fact remains that the employees who produce the wealth for the 41 Ordnance Factories are totally dissatisfied and unhappy with the state of affairs. Post Corporatization there is a huge loss in the salary of the employees. To compensate the shortage of Manpower and to meet the Production targets for more than 06 decades the employees are detailed on Overtime and they used to get Overtime Wages as a part of their Pay Packet, now the Overtime is completely stopped and wherever workload is there the Management are resorting to Large Scale Outsourcing and by Recruiting employees on Fixed Termed and Contractual Employment. Apart from this the direct Production Workers used to get Piece Work Profit based on their Output & Performance. The Piece Work Profit also has come down drastically and in many Ordnance Factories the employees are struggling even to earn their Minimum Time Wages. The employees are Government Employees and their wages cannot be reduced and if they are not able to earn their wages their Minimum Time Wages have to be guaranteed by the management as per Government Orders and also as per Minimum Wages Act. However, there is a gross violation and employees who are on Piece Work System are not even
paid their Minimum Guarantee Wages. What is the fun in claiming that the Corporations are running in Profit. Stoppage of Over Time Wages, Piece Work Profit have reduced the take home pay of the employees. Many employees have sold out their Flats, Two Wheelers, Four Wheelers etc., as they are not able to Pay the EMI’s. Many have taken Voluntary Retirement and Death Rate also have increased. Whether the Government or Companies have taken any proactive steps to address these issues. The answer is a straight “No”.

Previously, the employees used to get Productivity Linked Bonus based on the Average performance of the 41 Ordnance Factories. Now, each Company is announcing the Bonus of their own and 02 Corporations namely AWEIL & GIL have paid only the minimum Bonus of 30 days. The TCL have not yet announced even the 30 days Bonus to its employees. In the name of competition with the Private Sector the Managements are reducing the Labour Estimates of the Products drastically and the entire burden is being put on the shoulder of the Industrial Workers who are deployed on the Piece Work System. The Workers and their Unions are fighting relentlessly against this injustice. For the past 03 years the appointment on Compassionate grounds to the dependents of the employees who died while serving the Nation has been completely stopped. We have submitted several representations in this regard to the Government which is remaining unaddressed. Recently, we came to know that the Government is considering to transfer the employees unilaterally from one Company to another Company. Like this there are hundreds of problem the employees are facing. Neither the Government nor the Companies are having a positive approach towards the employees. Keeping the employees in distress, stress, and depression and claiming that the Companies are running in profit is a cruel joke.

Being a responsible and patriotic Trade Union so far we have not taken any decision to have a non-cooperation in the Production activities. If at all the Companies have earned Profit it is only due to the hard work of the employees despite all their problems and difficulties. However, their interest is always neglected. Instead of claiming that the Companies are on profit because of Corporatization the Government as a Model employer should take care of the welfare and requirement of the employees, concluded C. Srikumar.