Talking to Business Line after the three-day (January 10-12) joint bipartite consultative committee (JBCC) meeting at Nagpur in Maharashtra, sources said that a formal wage pact in this regard may be entered at the next meeting of JBCC scheduled to be held in Kolkata on January 27 and 28.
Official confirmation on the wage negotiation was not available. CIL enhanced salaries by 24 per cent in the previous five-year pact.
Balance-sheet impact
According to sources, the new wages, if implemented, may impact the CIL balance-sheet to the tune of Rs 5,500-6,000 crore annually, inclusive of all employee-related costs like gratuity, leave encashment and others. The coal major had provided a “lump sum amount” of Rs 756 crore (approximately Rs 3,000 crore on an annual basis) towards the wage pact impact in the second quarter of this fiscal.
Available estimates suggest that the revised coal prices – effected since January 1 – may generate additional resources to the tune of Rs 6,000 crore a year for the company, at the current production level of 431 million tonnes thereby taking care of the wage pact.
Hurdles ahead
According to sources, during the negotiation round at Nagpur, CIL made it clear that the proposed 25 per cent hike should include all major benefits accrued by the workers.
Though both the sides broadly agreed to the formula, a section of unions demanded that workers be offered “perks' on the lines of coal officers. Though the claim (by unions) was countered on the ground that any such formula would force workers to sacrifice ‘overtime benefits', the JBCC decided to form a sub-committee to scrutinise the benefits over and above the regular salaries and wages.
The sub-committee will meet twice on January 18 and 22 before the JBCC enters the final round of negotiation on January 27 and 28.
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