Ordnance factory employees firm on one-month strike call

Unions representing civilian employees of the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) on Sunday said they would go ahead with a one-month strike to oppose the government's corporatization plans, even as the Ministry of Defence "reiterated" it has no plans of such privatization. The three recognized federations representing civilian employees at 41 factories of the OFB had given a call for a month's strike from August 20 against the proposed corporatization of the ordnance factories.

A defense ministry communique, however, said the government is not thinking on the lines of privatization of the factories. "OFB chairman and director-general, Ordnance Factories, Saurabh Kumar reiterated that there is no plan on the part of the Government to privatize the ordnance factories," the communique said.

In continuation of the meeting held on August 14, a committee of senior officials of the defense ministry led by additional secretary, Department of Defence Production, along with the OFB chairman, had once again met the office-bearers of the federations on August 16 regarding the strike. "The committee explained to the employee organizations that there is no proposal to privatize OFB. The proposal under consideration of government is to make it into Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs), which is 100 percent government-owned," the ministry had said in an earlier statement.

"Rumours being spread that OFB is being privatized are misguiding and with the intent to mislead the workers...," it added. The federations, however, were not content with the explanation and remained firm on their proposal to proceed on a one-month-long strike commencing from August 20.

The three federations, in a joint statement, said, "The government has arbitrarily taken a decision to convert the 41 ordnance factories into a corporation/public sector, with the ultimate intention of privatizing these factories by disinvestment." It claimed that the government, during the two meetings, only asked for a withdrawal of the strike call and was not prepared to consider the federations' demand to not corporatize the ordnance factories, and alternative proposals to improve functioning within the existing structure. "Since the government is not prepared to reconsider its decision, the federations have decided to proceed with the strike," the joint release issued by the All India Defence Employees Federation, the Indian National Defence Workers Federation and the Bharathiya Pratiraksha Mazdoor Sangh, said.