The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : KCR seeks fair deal to coal workers

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Friday, Aug 03, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

KCR seeks fair deal to coal workers

Staff Reporter

KOTHAGUDEM: Coal workers in the Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) were in need of a strong trade union which could safeguard their interests and help improve their working conditions, said TRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Thursday.

Addressing a series of public meetings in Manuguru and Kothagudem, he said the SCCL owed all its fortune to the hard work put in by the coal miners. But their lives were of no great worth for the management. No one could be blamed for their plight but the voiceless unions that had been hand in glove with the management.

Problems galore

He said though the Singareni Collieries had for long been doing exceptionally well unlike the coal companies in the north, the treatment meted out to Singareni coal workers was no different from others. He questioned as to why they should be paid on par with coal workers of the companies where the performance was plagued consistently by problems such as bad industrial relations as well as the influence of mafia dons.

He said that the Singareni coal workers should be treated separately. Their wok should be duly rewarded. The company should go in for more new projects creating more employment potential in the region.

This could be possible only with the representation of a strong trade union both at the area level and the company level.

The Telangana Boggughani Karmika Sangham (TBKS) was prepared to shoulder the task, he said. It could fight the management effectively on issues such as wages, working conditions and amenities.

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