KOLKATA (miningweekly.com) - Following the failure of talks between government and management, trade unions representing workers in Coal India Limited (CIL) have hardened their stance on an indefinite strike from next month, with a  statutory notice expected to be served on Tuesday.

“A strike is inevitable now. All unions are decided on the strike. The formal notice is likely to be served on the CIL management on Tuesday. No offers have come from the management or the government and meetings have remained inconclusive,” All India Coal Workers Federation general secretary Jibon Roy said.

The trade unions representing 363 000 nonexecutive employees in CIL were protesting the government’s decision to disinvestment 10% of the company’s equity to private investors through a follow-on offer, to raise around $300-million for the government exchequer.

The trade unions maintained that the follow-on offer was a breach of government assurance and was back-door privatisation of coal mining, an exclusive domain of the government under the coal nationalisation law. The trade unions reiterated during its negotiations with the CIL management and government that the latter had assured the workers during the initial public offer (IPO) of CIL shares in 2010 that no further equity would be placed with private investors and the latest disinvestment plan was a breach of this assurance.

All the recognised trade unions in CIL were affiliated to national trade unions arms affiliated to various Indian political parties. The unions include the All India Trade Union Congress, the Centre for Indian Trade Unions, the Indian National Trade Union Congress and Hind Mazdoor Sabha.

The disinvestment of government-held equity in public sector companies like CIL was being spearheaded by the Finance Ministry to bridge the fiscal deficit in the national budget. But the Coal Ministry has opposed the equity disinvestment plans for CIL on the grounds that the concerns of labour needed to be addressed before pushing ahead, as industrial unrest at this time would seriously worsen the existing coal shortage in the country, an official in Coal Ministry said.

However, the inter-Ministerial group handling disinvestment has conveyed to the Coal Ministry that the only concession that could be offered to the trade unions was pruning the quantum of shares to be offloaded to private investors from 10% to 5%. This was not acceptable to the trade unions.