Oil Sector Officers Association calls for indefinite strike from 7 January

03 January 2009

Public sector oil firm executives said they would go on an indefinite strike from 7 January, over the unkept promises by the government on wage demands.

The Oil Sector Officers Association (OSOA), an amalgamation of officers' unions of 14 state-run oil firms, said the wage hike approved by government in November worked out to Rs3,989 per month at the entry level and Rs2,217 at the highest level.

The association says it was fooled by the government, which said the hike was up to 200 per cent when the actual increase was only 17 per cent. The November pay hike was at the basic pay level and after the dearness allowance (DA) calculation, the net pay hike was minuscule, the association added.

The OSOA's had earlier submitted a 13-point charter of demands that included categorisation of all oil sector PSUs to the highest A+ category entitling workers to the best salary available for a government-sector company, removal of 50 per cent ceiling on perks and allowances, 50 per cent dearness allowance (DA) merger in line with central government employees, five-year periodicity of wage revision, introduction of open ended pay-scales.

PSU sector oil firm executives said the government had betrayed their trust while approving the wage hike in November.

OSOA president Amit Kumar said the association had been left with no choice but to resort to a strike because of "a series of betrayals".