Coal India unions may seek 95,000-rupee/worker festival bonus
Informist, Monday, Sep 23, 2024
--Sources:Coal India unions may seek 95,000-rupee/worker festive bonus
--Sources:Coal India officials-trade unions meet Sun on bonus issue
--Sources: Coal India to pay festival bonus to workers by Oct 9
By Avishek Rakshit
KOLKATA – Trade unions at Coal India Ltd are likely to press for a festival bonus of a minimum of 95,000 rupees per worker this week, several sources told Informist. The Maharatna company is likely to pay the bonus by Oct 9.
"All the central trade unions will meet on Sep 28 (Saturday) to decide on the final amount which is to be demanded as bonus, and the trade unions will jointly meet Coal India management a day after (Sep 29) to negotiate on the final amount," D.D. Ramanandan, general secretary of the Left-affiliated All India Coal Workers' Federation told Informist.
If Coal India agrees to the trade unions' demand, it is likely to result in an outgo of a minimum of 20 bln rupees in October. The company has around 213,000 non-executive staff on its payroll.
In 2023-24 (Apr-Mar), the public sector enterprise paid a total bonus of around 19 bln rupees to its permanent workers. Each Coal India worker received a bonus of 85,000 rupees in October last year, and 76,500 rupees in October 2022.
Historically, Coal India has been increasing the festive bonus per worker by around 4,500-8,500 rupees every year for the past several years. The increase in workers' bonus mostly depends on the company's financial performance and the ability of trade union leaders to bargain on behalf of the workers.
Coal India officials said the partial impact of higher outgo in the form of bonus can be offset by higher volume of coal sales and an improvement in the quality of coal supplied to its consumers. "Also, around 14,000-15,000 workers are retiring every year, and we are not filing up the vacancy," a Coal India official said. "That is why the overall financial impact on the company owing to the bonus will be marginal."
According to Coal India officials, the non-executive employees who are on the company's direct payroll, do not fall under the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 as their salary exceeds the prescribed limits in the law. Thus, a performance-linked reward scheme is in place for them, which translates into payment of a one-time ex-gratia, which is traditionally negotiated and disbursed just before Durga Puja every year. Durga Puja begins on Oct 7 this year. Unlike most other public sector undertakings which disburse bonus or ex-gratia payments during Diwali, Coal India disburses the bonus just before the beginning of Durga Puja.
This performance-based reward, however, is agreed upon via collective bargaining between Coal India and the trade unions. "Coal India has been pressing to implement the performance-linked scheme for some time now, but it is being rejected by the trade unions as there is a lot of ambiguity. Thus, collective bargaining is the practice to decide on the bonus or ex-gratia payment component," Ramanandan said.
At 1403 IST, shares of Coal India traded 1.5% higher at 498.45 rupees on the National Stock Exchange. End
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