Thousands of workers have resumed work at the expansion site of Indian Oil Corporation Limited’s (IOCL) Panipat refinery after a five-day strike last month. However, many contract labourers claim that as the project nears completion their key demands have only been partly implemented by the country’s largest government-owned oil company.
Lack of adequate toilets and drinking water drew the IOCL’s attention only after over 20,000 workers went on strike on February 23, halting work at the site. After negotiations, the company agreed to address eight demands.
A notice pasted outside the gates of the site lists the accepted demands, including limiting workdays to eight hours, ensuring salary payments between the 1st and 7th of every month, paying wages according to labour rules, providing toilets and drinking water, covering medical expenses in case of workplace accidents, granting national holidays, and restricting duty to 26 days a month.
The notice states that failure to implement these demands with “immediate effect” could invite action against contractors.
“The refinery management is now monitoring contractors more closely, for which a committee has been formed, and any violation of labour welfare provisions will invite action,” an IOCL official said.
