19 Dec : The eighteen-day old strike in the Jute Mills of West Bengal came to an end in the wee hours of Friday at the intervention of Shri Oscar Fernandes, the Minister of State (I/C) for Labour & Employment.
This follows a settlement at the meeting held here between Indian Jute Mills Association (IJMA), representative of employers of jute mills and the representatives of 18 operating trade unions including INTUC, CITU, BMS, UTUC etc.
As per the terms of the settlement, all workmen in Jute Mills shall get Rs. 500/- per month as ad-hoc payment against the outstanding dues. A tripartite committee with representatives of employers, workmen and State Government and Central Government will be appointed by the Central Government to study all outstanding issues and various facets of the working of jute industry including pricing, productivity and wage structure. The Committee will submit its recommendations to the Union Ministry of Labour within eight weeks.
Apart from Shri Fernandes, several senior officials of the Ministry of Labour & Employment including Smt. Sudha Pillai, Secretary and Shri S. Krishnan, Special Secretary were present at the meeting. Shri S.K. Mukhopadhyay, Chief Labour Commissioner (Central) and the Additional Labour Commissioner, Government of West Bengal also participated in the deliberations.