In one of the important labour struggles unfolding in the steel giant, Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), trade unions are agitating against the new appointment policy of Indian Iron and Steel Company (IISCO) plant at Sindri in Dhanbad (Jharkhand), with respect to appointments on compassionate grounds. As per the SAIL directive, those recruited on compassionate grounds will be designated as trainees for two years before being absorbed in the company as permanent employees. All the unions have come together to protest against this and are demanding that the previous rule of the probation period of six months be applied. The unions also struck work for 24 hours on 23 February 2010 and disrupted mining at Chasnala (the site of the mine tragedy in India in 1975, considered the worst ever in India. According to official reports, 372 workers died; unofficial estimates put the figure at 1200), causing huge losses to the company.

Despite the intervention of the Deputy Labour Commissioner, Dhanbad, the management is reluctant to bring a change in the appointment policy. It claims that it is as per the appointment policy of SAIL, the parent company of IISCO. An earlier agitation had resulted in the company agreeing to issue appointment letters on compassionate grounds to 205 dependents of deceased employees. But an agitation had to be started afresh when the management clearly mentioned in the appointment letters that they will be appointed as trainees for two years (and not as regular employees as was the demand of the unions) with a consolidated pay or Rs 6,600 for the first year and Rs 7,700 for the second year. In addition, the workers were asked to join the Burnpur unit in West Bengal, instead of the Jharkhand unit.

As per the wage board of the company, the minimum salary is more than Rs 10,000 at the starting level. This injustice irked the unions. This agitation is significant because its outcome will determine revolutionary changes in the policies of SAIL and other public-sector companies, regarding appointment on compassionate grounds.