KOLKATA (miningweekly.com) – The Centre for Indian Trade Unions (CITU), the labour arm of Communist Part of India (Marxists), is first off the block in raising opposition to tentative plans for disinvestment of government equity holding in Coal India Limited (CIL).

After failing to get any bidders for national air carrier Air India, the Indian government has signalled plans to sell part of its 78% equity holding in CIL to private investors.

However, CITU has taken the stand that government’s disinvestment, coupled with opening up coal mining to private investors, was nothing but “privatisation” of the coal industry.

“About 300 000 workers in CIL and anther 60 000 in Singareni Collieries Company Limited will be affected by privatisation as they earn salaries and wages as per negotiated wage agreements,” D Ramachandran, the general secretary of All India Coal Workers’ Federation, affiliated to CITU, said.

“If new private companies come to the market, their expenditure on salaries and wages will be less than 10% of their total expenditure and exploit workers to produce cheap coal. Then, of course buyers will go for cheap coal and it will eventually lead to termination of State-owned coal companies,” he added.

Even as CITU is at the forefront of bringing all other trade unions on a common platform to oppose the government’s disinvestment plans, the coal industry is keeping a close watch on the stand to be taken by trade union Bharat Mazodoor Sangh (BMS), which happens to be the labour arm of the Bharatiya Janata Party, now leading the federal Indian government.

Although the labour arm of the government in power that has vetted the disinvestment plan, BMS has been at odds with its parent party, often opposing disinvestment in government-owned companies and earlier government approval to open up commercial coal mining to private investors.

Meanwhile, reports have surfaced in local media relating to international merchant bankers, including Deutsche Equities and Citi Bank, pointing out that some international investors and pension funds having raised red flags over CIL’s standards on adherence to environmental, workers’ safety and child labour.