Majority unions not party to decision on SCCL election: SBGKS

Telangana Boggu Ghani Karmika Sangham has strongly opposed what it called the unilateral decision of the Deputy Chief Labour Commissioner (Central) to hold the trade union election on October 28

Hyderabad: The Telangana Boggu Ghani Karmika Sangham (TBGKS), the recognised trade union of the Singareni Collieries Company Limited has strongly opposed what it called the unilateral decision of the Deputy Chief Labour Commissioner (Central) to hold the trade union election on October 28.

Union General secretary M Raji Reddy said as many as 13 of the 15 unions that stayed away from meeting held on Wednesday were not a party to the decision. Except for the AITUC and the BMS, all other trade unions were not against conducting the polls at a time convenient for both the coal workers and the management.

---

The company management would appeal against the notification in the division bench of the High Court. It happened to be a holiday for the court on Thursday. The issue would be challenged in the division bench on Friday. Barring one or two, almost all the trade unions were of the view that the election code should not come in the way of the disbursal of the benefits due from the company to the coal workers.

The issue over the term of the elected body – whether four years or two years – was also before the court as a writ petition had been filed. The election could be conducted after the issue was resolved, the TBGKS general secretary said. The issues related to the shortage of coal felt across the country have to be addressed first with priority. Besides this, the SCCL sponsored rescue and safety events were also scheduled for October.

Besides this, the Telangana Boggu Ghani Karmika Sangham , like many other trade unions in the company, is affiliated to a political party. The Election Commission of India is likely to announce the schedule soon for the ensuing elections to the State Assembly. A majority of the union members would be involved in the election campaign in their respective constituencies. It would be difficult for the union leaders to concentrate on the trade union polls.