People's Democracy

 Oil Workers Stage Massive Countrywide Strike

EXCEEDING expectations, the entire public sector oil industries throughout the country witnessed a gigantic strike on December 16, 2003 against the anti-national move of the NDA government to privatise the oil PSUs strategically important for the economy and national security of the country.

More than one lakh and fifty thousand workers of the industry have participated in the strike while the Officer’ Associations have extended solidarity support. Officers also stayed away from workplace in many units as a mark of solidarity.

The strike has been historic in the sense that this is the first ever joint strike action by the entire oil sector workers that too on such a basic issue of national importance. This is also the first strike action by the central public sector workers after the August 6 judgement of the Supreme Court banning the right to strike.

The CITU announced in Delhi that “failure of the government to pay any heed to the three day strike by the HPCL and BPCL has resulted in today’s strike. If the privatisation spree continues unabated, the workers will be compelled to go on an indefinite strike.”

The strike has been spearheaded by the National United Forum Against Privatisation of Oil PSUs comprising trade unions affiliated to CITU, AITUC, INTUC, Hind Kisan Kamgar Sena, Maharashtra General Kamgar Union and several major independent recognised trade unions functioning in the oil PSUs.

The Forum took the strike decision in the national convention of the oil workers held on the November 16, 2003 at Guwahati attended by trade union representatives functioning in the public sector oil companies in the upstream and downstream i.e. ONGC, IOC, BPCL, HPCL, Oil India Ltd. Assam, Kochi Refinery Ltd., IBP Ltd. IOBL and Balmer Lawire. The convention had also decided that, “if the government continues its exercise of privatisation of oil PSUs, the workers will be compelled to go for indefinite strike.”

In all the seven refineries of IOC, the strike has been total. So also in the BPCL refinery in Mumbai. However, the strike has been partial in the HPCL refinery in Mumbai and Vishakapatnam.  Overwhelming majority of workers in the pipelines division of IOC throughout the country struck work. Again the strike has been a big success in the marketing network of all the public sector oil refining companies.

In southern region states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala, the strike has been complete in IOC, HPCL and IBP, while in Vishakapatnam it has been partial.  The Numaligarh Refinery and the Bongaigaon refinery have witnessed full strike.

In the northern region, the strike has been a complete success in the IOC, BPCL and HPCL offices, installations and bottling plants. In the north eastern region, hundred percent workers in the refineries, pipelines and marketing installations and bottling have participated in the strike.

In the western region, while IOC marketing workers did not go on strike, majority of the workers of the HPCL and BPCL marketing sectors have joined the strike.

Similarly, in the eastern regions covering West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa etc. despite opposition of some trade unions, the strike call has been responded to by overwhelming majority of the workforce in IOC, BPCL and HPCL.

In the two upstream oil PSUs  i.e. ONGC and Oil India Ltd the response has been mixed. While in Oil India Ltd the strike has been hundred per cent successful in all its units throughout the country, in ONGC full strike has been observed in the different offices and drilling locations in Assam and Tripura. However, in the two major locations of ONGC in Mumbai and Baroda, the recognised unions affiliated to INTUC and BMS respectively have extended support to the strike with demonstration and meeting at the workplaces.

While the oil sector workers throughout the country have been in the picketing line en masse denouncing the privatisation move, the matter has been raised in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha by the opposition MPs Ramjilal Suman (Samajwadi Party), Basudev Acharya, Rupchand Pal, Jibon  Roy and Dipankar Mukherjee (CPI-M), P R Dasmunshi (Congress) and others. The Lok Sabha speaker admitted the necessity of having a separate discussion on the issue in view of the countrywide agitation. (INN)