Wednesday, October 07, 2009

450 Workers of SUN Pharmaceuticals in Sikkim stage dharna




East Sikkim, October7: SUN pharmaceutical company having its unit in located at Seti Pool, 15 kms away from Gangtok ,East Sikkim has been another pharma factory which has started facing labour management problem for the past two days.
Over 450 workers of SUN Pharmaceutical Company working under contractors staged a dharna today especially protesting women labour being deployed on 12 hours night shift which starts at 7PM and ends at 7AM and further amount being paid for long hours of night shift is meagre Rs.15 instead of Rs25 as promised.The labours are also demanding increase of daily wage, timely monthly payment, vehicle facility to causal labourers, clarification in provident fund, medical treatment facility as per the company’s norms and extra payment for overtime.The 450 workers of Unit went on indefinite strike from today protesting against the alleged high handiness of the management of the company. The workers said that they were forced to gone on an indefinite hartal due to the lack of facilities provided to them by the company and other labour related issues.The workers are also protesting the decision of the company management to deploy women workers in night shifts. The company has mentioned its rules that no women workers will be put for night shifts, they said.

Another grievance of the workers was that the management was not providing them medical facilities. They also slammed the State labour department and labour organizations for not coming forward to help them since they were recruited into the Sun Pharma company factory at Seti Pool seven months ago.
Women labourers have also raised their voice against the company staff for misbehaving with them.
Labours have also protested against non-payment of wages for 2 days holidays for celebration of Dashai festival.The labours have called for protest strike in the Sun Pharma Unit.
When asked to comment on the issue, the company’s HR  manger Shri Shailesh Rai said there is no difference between the casual labourers and company staff. “All are equal and are treated equally,” they said.
According to them, the wages given to the labourers are being followed as per the norms of labour department. As far as timely payment to the labourers is concerned, the management said they usually pay to the labour contractors in time. The labour contractors also pay wages to the labourers in time, the manager added. Asserting that the company is abiding the rules and regulations of the labour laws of the State government, Mr. Rai said that six days of work per week is compulsory as per the norms. He also assured that the two day leave payments of the Dusherra festival will be made by the company. HRD manager Sailesh Rai told media that the demands of the workers have been forwarded to the company’s head office at Mumbai. We are waiting for the response from the head office, he said


Meanwhile, the workers are determined to continue with their strike until the company fulfills their demands

1 comment:

SANJIT GHOSH said...

Wherever we set up industries, particularly in the foothills of the Himalayas, we should always take care of environmental and social issues very earnestly.