Late on Wednesday evening, the Coal India labour union decided to call off its strike. Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy Piyush Goyal had a marathon meeting with the labour unions at Coal India.
Throughout the evening, news reports suggested that there was growing momentum towards a consensus between the government and the workers’ unions - all five major unions, accounting for 95 percent of the total 3.5 lakh employees of CIL.
This meeting was chaired by Goyal and attended by S Bhattacharya, new chairman of CIL who took charge on Monday this week. Throughout the meeting, the Union leaders were firm on their stand. The government, according to sources, has offered a few proposals.
The government continued to stay fairly unrelenting on its stance on commercial mining. There has been a fair amount of give and take.
The government has throughout its course of negotiations maintained its earlier position that it cannot relent on commercial mining. That is an enabling provision – that is beyond the coal sector, the mining sector, it is an indicator of the broader reform move that the government is seeking to undertake.
On the subject of divestment, no detail has emerged, but there could be some concessions.
Coal India union had called for a 5-day strike. Estimated production loss on day 2 stood at Rs 300 crore.
Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
