India Cements has signed an important new wage settlement with trade unions under section (12(3)] of Industrial Disputes Act. The agreement was signed on Friday, 13 January, 2023, by N Srinivasan,Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, India Cements and the representatives of the trade unions affiliated to INTUC, LPF, CITU, MDMK and internal Unions in the Company’s plants, before P Arunkumar, Dy. Chief Labour Commissioner (Central), Chennai and D Srinivasulu, Dy. Chief Labour Commissioner (Central), Hyderabad. The four year agreement effective from April 1 2022, provides for a total increase of Rs 5,000 per month for the workmen employed in all the 10 cement plants of the Company. The agreement will benefit over 500 workmen. Further, the agreement provides for revising the variable DA payable from Rs 2.55 per point in CPI (1960 series) to Rs 2.75 per point. This is expected to fetch an additional Rs 5,000 per month per head at the end of the settlement period. This along with Rs 5,000 wage increase, an employee stands to get nearly Rs 10,000 increase at the end of the fourth year.
Apart from the agreement, the management has also announced a new Floater Mediclaim Policy to all the employees covered by the agreement for the annual insurance cover of Rs 3 lakhs per employee. The premium amount will be paid by the company. This will entail outgo of Rs 1.65 crore per annum for the company. N Srinivasan said, “For the last 30 years, I have been negotiating on behalf of the cement industry with all the central trade unions.”