Protesting workers climb boiler tower of SAIL unit in Chandrapur

Chandrapur (Maha), Dec 2 (PTI) Six contractual workers of Chandrapur Ferro Alloy Plant (CFP), a unit of the Steel Authority of India (SAIL) here, climbed the boiler tower on the factory's premises around noon on Saturday alleging that the company was not implementing a labour commissioner's order in their favour.
They climbed down after more than nine hours after getting an assurance that their demand will be discussed.
Suryakant Chandekar, working president of the CFP Kamgar Union, was among those who climbed the tower.

As many as 91 contractual workers have been seeking `S-1' status equivalent to the permanent employees as they are doing the same work as the latter for more than 20 years, he told PTI.
The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court recently directed the Deputy Chief Labour Commissioner, Nagpur, to consider the matter afresh. The commissioner on November 10 passed an order asking CFP management to give them S-1 status, but CFP did not implement the order, according to Chandekar.
CFP executive director K Rama Krishna had said in the evening that company officials were trying to establish contact with the protesting workers to resolve the issue.
He and the other five workers climbed down around 10 pm after getting an assurance from local government officials that a meeting of workers and the management will be held to resolve their issues, Chandekar said.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)