Rediff Logo
Money
Line
Channels: Astrology | Broadband | Contests | E-cards | Money | Movies | Romance | Search | Wedding | Women
Partner Channels: Auto | Bill Pay | IT Education | Jobs | Lifestyle | Technology | Travel
Line
Home > Money > Reuters > Report
May 4, 2001
Feedback  
  Money Matters

 -  Business Special
 -  Business Headlines
 -  Corporate Headlines
 -  Columns
 -  IPO Center
 -  Message Boards
 -  Mutual Funds
 -  Personal Finance
 -  Stocks
 -  Tutorials
 -  Search rediff

    
      



 
Reuters
 Search the Internet
         Tips
 Sites: Finance, Investment
E-Mail this report to a friend
Print this page

Balco strike continues, unions to meet on Saturday

Workers unions of the newly-privatised aluminium-maker Balco decided on Friday to continue their two-month-old crippling strike, which has halted production at its plant, striking leaders said.

"We have decided that the strike will go on," M L Razak, secretary of a Bharat Aluminium Company trade union, told Reuters by telephone from Korba in Chhattisgarh, where the plant is located.

He said the unions would meet again on Saturday to discuss their response to a Supreme Court request to return to work after Balco's new management, Sterlite Industries, agreed to pay the workers for the time they were on strike and promised there would be no job cuts.

Nearly 7,000 workers launched the strike on March 3 fearing massive layoffs after the sale of the plant, India's first big-ticket privatisation in a decade of reforms.

The Supreme Court has asked the workers to comply with its request by May 8 when it meets again to consider the matter.

The workers began the strike at the plant in Korba after the federal government sold its 51 per cent stake in Balco to private metals firm Sterlite for Rs 5.51 billion.

The new management said on April 11 that losses due to the strike totalled Rs 1 billion.

Talks to settle the strike at the plant ended in a stalemate after trade unions demanded that the deal be scrapped. But the government said the sale was irreversible.

ALSO READ:
The Balco Saga

Back to top
(c) Copyright 2000 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.

Tell us what you think of this report