The 17-day long strike of about one lakh workers of the Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) in Andhra Pradesh against privatisation and contrac-tualisation of permanent jobs ended on 7 February after the management and the Andhra Pradesh government conceded the major demands of the striking workers. The unions, which launched the strike, were AITUC, INTUC, HMS, CITU, IFTU and BMS under the banner of Singareni Pariraksha Samiti.

The Singareni Collieries Company Limited is the oldest public sector coal company in India. The Hyderabad (Deccan) Company Limited began mining work here in 1886. The SCCL was incorporated in 1920 under the Hyderabad Companies Act after it acquired all the assets and liabilities of the Hyderabad (Deccan) Company Limited. The mining activities of SCCL are presently spread over Adilabad, Karimnagar, Khammam and Warangal districts of Andhra Pradesh.  It supplies coal to Southern India, especially to the power sector. The company is a joint sector of the centre and the state government with 49 per cent and 51 per cent shares respectively. The management is vested in the state government.

The miners were mainly opposed to contract-ualisation and outsourcing of surface mining work in the Koyagudem open cast project  in Yellandu area, the Goleti project in Bellampally region and the Medipalli project in Adilabad district. The unions demanded the withdrawal of the privatisation process in the operation of the mines which has been taking place for the last one year. A press release issued by CPSTU (Committee of Public Sector Trade Unions), vehemently condemned the government`s move to privatise and contractualise the public sector coal mines and denounced the repressive measures adopted by the police and the management in arresting hundreds of agitating workers.

About 300 coal workers, their leaders and local MLA Vanama Venkateshwar Rao were arrested at the Gautamkhani open cast project area in Khammam district for defying prohibitory orders. In Karimnagar district, MLAs Indrakaran Reddy, D Sridhar, T Jeevan Reddy and N Diwakar Rao, trade union leaders Y Gattaiyah and I Venkat Rao and over 200 workers were taken into preventive custody when they staged a rasta roko agitation in Godavarkhani. Over 340   activists belonging to various political parties extending their solidarity were also taken into custody in Hyderabad. Renuka Chowdhary, MP and CPI state secretary Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy were among those arrested during the 17-day strike.

The workers resumed coal production after an agreement was signed at midnight on 7 February in the presence of the Chief Labour Commissioner. The unions, comprising AITUC, INTUC, HMS and BMS, also signed the agreement, but CITU and IFTU refused to sign the agreement expressing their dissatisfaction with the deal.

Tapan Sen, Secretary, CITU said it refused to sign the agreement because outsourcing was still going on. B Bikshmaiah from IFTU said, "Our demand is to withdraw surface miners instead of just reducing its period." According to H Mahadevan, Deputy General Secretary of AITUC, all the workers have returned to work from February 7.

During the negotiations between the workers and the management in the presence of the members of the state cabinet sub-committee, the management agreed to reduce the tenure of outsourcing of surface mining from 21 months to 8 months in Koyagudem open cast project in  Khammam district’s Yellandu area. It assured that there would be no privatisation of mines or retrenchment of workers. The surface mining operation would continue, but this time, the company would either hire or purchase the equipment, which will be operated by the existing workers. The company had earlier given a 21-month contract to the Delhi-based Global Mining Company. This private company possesses the German machinery, `Surface Miner`, worth Rs 8 crore for extraction and improving the quality of coal.

It was agreed that the company`s tradesmen in repair and maintenance in the open cast project will be utilised as per convention, but the works beyond the capacity of the company will be outsourced. It means that in the case of work in excess of capacity in repair and maintenance, the company could outsource the work.

On the issue of providing free power supply to workers’ colonies, the management said it would meet the demand in accordance with the terms of the government. On rent recovery, the management has decided to put the recovery on hold for one year. It was also agreed that the company would monitor if sufficient water is being supplied to the hutment areas of the workers.

The management side was led by its director GSG Ayyanagar. Y Gattaiyah of AITUC, who is also the Convenor of Singareni Pariraksha Samiti, led the team of trade unions. The cabinet sub-committee, which was headed by the Home Minister T Devender Goud,  included Minister of Energy, K Subarayudu, and Minister for Roads and Building, T Nageshwar Rao.

Ayyanagar says, "No retrenchments or compulsory retirement of the employees have taken place in the last 123 years of Singareni’s history. The company believes in redeployment,  not in retrenchment. Jobs of the employees numbering about 98,000 are fully secure." On the other hand, KL Mahendra of AITUC says, "For the last one year the company started down- sizing, i.e. reducing the strength of the workers, outsourcing, i.e. placing orders outside the company for the work which was being done by the company…"

Even as the management and the government have come up with the assurance to the workers, the question remains how far the process of privatisation is shunned.