Jamshedpur, July 4: Around 250 contract workers/ supervisors of Tata Motors have been deprived of work since June 22. The workers have neither received their salaries on time, nor were they provided with their ESI, PF and safety equipment.
All these workers were working in Tata Motors through a contract agency and since Jusco took over the job, these workers have been deprived of work. The workers have been protesting the move for the last 14 days. On Monday, the East Singhbhum District Congress Committee came in support of the agitating workers.
However, the Congress party workers led by district president Vijay Khan were stopped near Tata Motors gate on Monday morning when they were going to gherao the residence of Tata Motors Jamshedpur Plant Head AB Lall. Police allegedly resorted to lathi charge and arrested the contract workers and some Congress leaders including women and party activists and took them to Golmuri police station.
Later, Vijay Khan said Lall should show concerns for the families of contract workers. Threatening a massive demonstration, Vijay Khan warned the Tata Motors, Jusco management and Raghubar government and demanded solution within next five days. The arrested were later released on PR Bond.
The Congress workers failed to reach near the house of plant head as private security officials were also pressed into service. The party workers and contract labors also shouted slogans against Tata Motors management, Jharkhand government and district administration.
Officer-in-charge, Telco thana, KM Ram said that they have taken about 100 persons in custody for taking out procession toward the residence of Tata Motors Ltd’s plant head with a motive to stage gherao of the top company executive.
” Yes we have arrested the workers for their action as they had not taken any permission from the administration for their such protest. We will release them on PR Bond later on,” said Ram.
Ram said the arrested protestors had been lodged in Golmuri thana as there was no space to accommodate so many people in Telco thana premises.
Telco township, which was being maintained by Tata Motors Ltd through contractors is being maintained by Jusco, which is a Tata Steel subsidiary. The water supply system was being was looked after by Jusco since the past eight years, and now the civil maintenance work of the township is also being done by the utility company.
Anand Bihari Dubey, a Congress activist who was leading the protest said that they were heading toward the Tata Motors Ltd’s plant head’s house as the Jusco has removed 17 supervisors from service recently.
“It is really shocking the way company is acting. Those supervisors who have been removed had been working under three contract firms since the past 20 to 25 years.
But after Jusco was entrusted with the town maintenance work, the utility company retained all the workers, but sacked all the 17 supervisors. ,” said Dubey. He said the protestors were stopped by police from reaching the house of the plant head and several of them were taken into custody.
Significantly, on Sunday Jusco management and contract workers held a meeting wherein Jusco agreed to take on the job 230 workers, but declined to accept the 24 supervisors. As a result, the talks failed and a decision was taken to gherao the residence of AB Lall.
Dulal Bhuiyan, Anand Bihari Dubey, Samanto Kumar, Paritosh Singh, Laddu Pandey, Jyotiosh Yadav, Ajay Mishra, Brijendra Tiwary, Sanjay SIngh Azad, Prince Singh, P N Jha, Arun Singh, Jayprakash Sharma, Rajnish Singh, Pavan Kumar Bablu, Aparna Guha, Rahul Goswami, Dinesh Singh and others were present on the occasion.
Jusco’s Clarifications
Meanwhile, Jusco has issued a six-point clarification on the issue. A press communiqué issued by the utility service company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Steel, stated that some contractor’s workers/ supervisors of Tata Motors tried to organize a protest in front of Plant Head, Tata Motors Limited, residence. Local administration along with police stopped the protestors midway.
The company clarified that:
There are no pending issues related to statutory compliances like PF/ ESI, etc
All PF/ESI paid updated and compliances submitted to Tata Motors
Yesterday Capt. Dhananjay Mishra, senior GM (JTO) visited Tata Motors and met the protesting workers at their site. He offered to take all of them back in JUSCO immediately on the terms and conditions of JUSCO as being done at any other sites of JUSCO. The focus should be on safety, quality, timelines and ethical work culture.
JUSCO has been maintaining more than 20,000 households of Tata Steel for over 100 years. There have never been any issues of pending PF/ ESI in the last almost 100 years. The work culture of JUSCO does not permit any such violations of statutory compliances and has never defaulted on such things.
There are some elements, who for their own interests, wants the workers to remain in dark and give them false hope for better future. JUSCO will never entertain such elements in their work culture.
Tata Motors is committed to continue with JUSCO for their civil maintenance because their past performance in Tata Steel areas and also for their earlier performance in managing Tata Motors Water Management Services for the last almost 8 years.