Elamaram Kareem writes to the Union Petroleum Minister demanding immediate renewal of BPCL workers' wage agreement

CITU state general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Com. Elamaram Kareem has written to Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan demanding the immediate renewal of the service and wage agreement of workers in BPCL's refineries and marketing division. The Centre revised officers' pay and benefits in 2017 as recommended by the Third Pay Revision Commission. But the central government, which is putting conditions on revising workers' wages, is threatening them into accepting these, the letter pointed out.

The workers' wage agreements expired on December 31, 2016 at the Mumbai Refinery, on May 31, 2018 in marketing and on July 31, 2018 at the Kochi Refinery. Officers' pay revision was implemented in 2017 through an office order, giving officers pay increases and benefits similar to those of officers in other public sector oil companies. But the wage revision workers in other oil companies or the central public sector received has not been granted to BPCL workers.

In his letter, Com. Elamaram Kareem MP asked that the workers' just demands be settled urgently. It is unjust to say that if the revision proposed by the management is not accepted, it will lapse on a fixed date. Against all this, BPCL workers have announced a strike on September 7 and 8.