Take Action Against DDP For Blatant Violation Of The Conciliation Settlement

Viewers of www.indianpsu.com is aware that while the Federations of the Ordnance Factory Employees are continuing the battle against Corporatisation of OFB, the Ministry of Defence is proceeding with its policy decision to Corporatise the Ordnance Factories. Reliable sources in the MoD says that a Cabinet Note in this regard has already been forwarded to the PMO and it is expected to be approved by the Cabinet any time. In this situation the Chief Labour Commissioner Central invited the Federations and the DDP officials for the next round of conciliation proceedings. It is seen from a Joint circular issued by the Federations that the conciliation proceedings are going to come an end with the CLC(C) reserving his verdict. The Federations have put forth the following arguments before the CLC(c).

1) The demand of withdrawal of Corporatisation of Ordnance Factories was accepted as an Industrial Dispute by the Employer/DDP (Ref. Minutes of the
conciliation settlement reached on 09/10/2020). Now Govt. cannot escape by saying it is a policy decision of the Government.

2) As agreed in the conciliation proceedings, the meeting of the Federations with the EGoM has not taken place so far. This is a clear violation of the conciliation settlement.

3) The Secretary(DP) asked for alternative proposal and thereafter for robust proposal from the Federations for continuing the Ordnance Factories as a Govt. organisation, which was submitted by the Federations. However these proposals were neither put up to the EGoM nor discussed with the Federations for implementation. This is another violation by the Employer.

4) The Federations have submitted innumerable number of representations about the violation by the Employer to the various authorities in the Govt.
including the Ministers in the EGoM and the CLC(C). Specific complaint against the DDP on violation of the conciliation settlement and Sec. 33 of the ID Act has been lodged to the CLC(C) on 31/03/2021. However no action has been taken by the CLC(C) on the complaint lodged by the Federations.

5) When the whole country is suffering due to the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic and when hundreds of employees of Ordnance Factories have
succumbed to death due to Covid-19, the Defence Ministry has not bothered to help the families with compensation/ex-gratia payment, out of turn
compassionate appointment, etc., but very keen to dismantle the Ordnance Factories in the name of Corporatisation, which is not at all acceptable.

6) The CLC(C) should take action under the Provision of ID Act 1947 against the DDP for clear violation of the conciliation settlement and the Provisions of ID Act 1947.

7) The CLC(C) may direct the DDP to keep the entire process of corporatisation of Ordnance Factories in abeyance and to start dialogue with the Federations after the normalcy is restored in the country.

8) In case the CLC(C) is not taking appropriate action against the Employer then, the Federations will be left with no other option than to revive the indefinite strike. After placing the views by the representatives of the Federations, the CLC(C) asked the JS(LS) to respond to the issues raised by the Federations. In his very brief statement the JS(LS) stated that so far as the Corporatisation of Ordnance Factories is concerned it is the policy decision taken by the Government and that he can only assure that the service conditions of the employees will not be adversely affected
and till date the DDP has not changed the service conditions of the employees and hence there is no violation on the part of the Government. The Federations in one voice objected to the statement made by the JS(LS) and has rejected the same and insisted that having accepted our demand of withdrawal of Corporatisation of Ordnance Factories as an Industrial Dispute, for which the conciliation proceedings are going on the statement made by the JS(LS) is not at all acceptable and CLC(C) should take appropriate action in this regard.

Concluding the deliberations the CLC(C) stated that he will study the joint letter submitted by the Federations today in the meeting and also the complaint lodged by the Federations on 31/03/2021 and he will also ask in writing from the DDP about the various actions taken by them on the dispute raised by the Federations and thereafter he will give his verdict about the Industrial Dispute raised by the Federations within a short period.
Thereafter the Federations met and decided to give a protest letter to the CLC(C) against the statement made by the JS(LS) in the meeting.
Accordingly the Federations submitted a protest letter to CLC(C) against the Statement made by the JS(LS) with regard to the dispute raised by the Federations.

The Federations were represented by the following leaders
1) S.N.Pathak,President/AIDEF
2) C.Srikumar, General Secretary/AIDEF
3) Ashok Singh, President/INDWF
4) R.Srinivasan, General Secretary/INDWF
5) Sadhu Singh, Vice president/BPMS
6) Mukesh Singh, General Secretary/BPMS

The Ministry of Defence was represented by Puneet Agarwal, JS(LS)