Sugar factory workers in Maharashtra have called off their strike after the Maharashtra State Cooperative Sugar Factories Federation (MSCSFF) agreed to give an interim relief of Rs 900 per month to them.
Nearly 1.5 lakh workers in the state had threatened an indefinite agitation from January 2 unless the federation takes a decision on their wage demand. They had sought an interim relief of Rs 3,000 per month or a 40% hike in their wages.
The interim relief amount was arrived at after protracted negotiations in Mumbai between the federation members and the factory worker representatives, Shivajirao Nagwade, chairman of the federation said.
The interim relief will be granted to workers from January 1, 2016, he said. The negotiations for the wage agreement will be held in the the next three months, he said.
The meet was significant since the term of the committee headed by Shivjirao Patil, vice-president, Vasantdada Sugar Institute, ends on January 8. The four-year wage pact between the workers and factories came to an end in April 2009 and the new committee came into existence to hear out the workers. The new committee was formed in July 2015 and meetings were held thereafter without any success.
Tatyasaheb Kale, president of the Kamgar Union, said that the workers had agreed to the interim relief of R900 per month keeping the interests of the industry in mind. Workers will hereon negotiate for the wage agreement in the next three months, he said.
The meeting was attended by industry majors including NCP leader Jayant Patil,Congress leader Harshavardhan Patil, vice-chairman of the federation Jayprakash Dandegaonkar, chairman of the tri-partite committee Shivajirao Patil, Sanjeev Babar, MD of the federation, among others.
Last week, the federation at a meet held in Pune had decided that factory employees should be given some interim relief in their wages.
Nagawade said that the sugar industry has been passing through a bad phase for last couple of years. “In the coming season, some of the mills will be able to complete only 50% crushing operations while some of them are likely to crush to 75% of their capacity.”