Date:13/09/2006 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/09/13/stories/2006091303061900.htm

Back Nellimarla jute mill impasse continues

Our Bureau

Union and management trade claims

Vizianagaram, Sept. 12

There seems to have been no progress in the negotiations to end the impasse in the Nellimarla jute mill, which has been under lockout since April 8.

A fresh round of negotiations were conducted in Visakhapatnam on Monday evening to end the dispute, and after the talks the union leaders, Mr P. Prasad and Mr B. Sankara Rao, claimed that the management had agreed to lift the lockout unconditionally and reopen the mill.

Condition for reopening

But at a press meet here on Tuesday, Mr M.V. Rao, the Chief Executive Officer, contradicted the claims of the union leaders and said that the management had made it clear to the Labour Department officials as well as the union leaders that the re-opening of the mill would be possible only if the mill could be run financially on sound lines.

Therefore, he said, the scheme formulated by the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) for the mill should be implemented and the unions should agree to it. The mill could only be reopened on that condition.

Mr M.V. Rao said that the Additional Labour Commissioner had only advised the mill management to reopen the mill in accordance with the Government Order banning the lockout. However, he said, the union leaders were misleading the workers and the public.

Management volte face

However, the union issued a statement here on Tuesday condemning what it called "the volte face of the management" in agreeing to reopen the mill on Monday and going back on its word on Tuesday.

"Mr Rao and other representatives of the management signed the document on Monday and are now violating it. The management has a secret agenda and is resorting to these cheap tactics," Mr P. Prasad, the President of the union, alleged.