Commercial mining: 5 CTUs at CIL, including BMS, serve strike notice for August 18

• The strike notice has been served by five CTUs — CITU, INTUC, AITUC, HMS and RSS-affiliated BMS

• The CTUs have demanded that the government cancel the auction of coal blocks for commercial mining and put a stop to the disinvestment of shares

New Delhi: Five Central Trade Unions (CTUs) at state-run Coal India Ltd have served a strike notice to the management on Tuesday for a one-day strike on August 18 against the Centre's decision to offer coal mines for commercial mining to the private sector. The strike notice has been served by five CTUs — CITU, INTUC, AITUC, HMS and RSS-affiliated BMS. This is the second strike call issued by the five CTUs jointly after the three-day strike in July against commercial coal mining. In the intervening period, BMS also held a week-long nationwide agitation in the last week of July against the government's privatisation agenda and labour policies. 

In the notice, the five trade unions said that the decision to hold the strike was taken at a virtual meeting that took place on July 15. It added that the five unions and their members have decided to go on a strike across Coal India Ltd and its subsidiary companies and Singareni Collieries Company Ltd on August 18, which is the last day for submitting bids for the coal blocks on offer for commercial mining.

What are the CTUs demanding?

The CTUs have demanded that the government cancel the auction of coal blocks for commercial mining and put a stop to the disinvestment of shares or buyback. They have also told the Centre to shelve the plan to carve out Central Mine Planning and Design Institute (CMPDIL) from Coal India. In addition, the CTUs have also demanded payment of wages to CIL contractual labourers in line with the recommendations of the high-powered committee at Coal India and implementation of wage revision. 

The backdrop

The three-day strike by trade unions at Coal India Limited in July impacted coal production by 56 percent. The strike began on July 2 and ended on July 4, with five Central Trade Unions — RSS' BMS, CITU, AITUC, INTUC and HMS — declaring their intention to keep the agitation going. Coal India's production fell to 5,73,000 tonnes per day over the course of these three days, as compared to the June average output of 1.29 MT per day.

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