: A one-day strike is being observed by employees and workers of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP), demanding implementation of wage agreement apart from withdrawing the decision to privatise the VSP, on Tuesday, June 29, 2021.
The workers have been observing relay hunger strikes at the Steel Plant arch at Kurmannapalem for over 135 days against the Centre’s decision to privatise VSP. This has not affected the productio, as they were observing the relay fasts by turns after attending to their shift duties.
The employees, owing allegiance to various trade unions, as part of the day-long strike boycotted duties and squatted on the road outside the main gate of RINL-VSP. The security personnel closed the gates as a precautionary measure. The union leaders threatened to go on an indefinite strike if the Centre does not change its decision on privatisation of the plant.
The union leaders allege that the VSP management has been prolonging the wage agreement discussions. All steel plants under SAIL have been waiting for the wage revision since the last four-and-a-half years. After the strike notice was served on the management, the union representatives were called for talks but no headway was made since June 22, they said.
The relay hunger strikes against privatisation of VSP are continuing parallely at the Steel Plant arch.
