The Left employees unions withdrew their indefinite strike outside the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) headquarters here on Saturday following online meetings with Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of the utility B. Ashok.
The presence of the State Industrial Security Force (SISF) at the headquarters building, Vydyuthi Bhavan, will be confined to the data centre and the sub-load despatch centre. The SISF will be provided a CCTV control facility and a rest room next to the data centre, the Power Department said. The unions had vehemently opposed the deployment of the SISF throughout the building, a management decision which was the immediate trigger for the strike launched six days ago.
Following separate meetings between the CMD and the Left workers' and officers' unions, the management acceded to a number of other demands. The circular on SISF deployment and prohibition of the protest in front of the Vydyuthi Bhavan will be reviewed. The employees who participated in the strike can avail themselves of eligible leave for the period.
Monthly coordination meetings of the management and unions will be held to discuss matters pertaining to the power utility. Issues pertaining to pay revision and transactions will be sorted out through discussions.
After the Left unions' strike snowballed into a controversy ahead of the Budget session of the Assembly, the government had tasked Electricity Minister K. Krishnankutty and senior Left Democratic Front (LDF) leaders to sort out the issues.
LDF convener A. Vijayaraghavan, CPI State secretary Kanam Rajendran and CITU State general secretary Elamaram Kareem had met the Minister on Thursday. Mr. Krishnankutty also held talks with the unions on Friday.
Earlier, Mr. Krishnankutty had directed the Power Secretary to examine the allegations levelled by Mr. Ashok regarding the operations of the KSEB.
Promotions
A decision has been taken to implement delayed promotions in the KSEB on the strength of a favourable verdict of the Supreme Court. In all, 4,230 employees will benefit from the decision. Mr. Krishnankutty had directed Mr. Ashok to implement the promotions within two weeks.
As per the decision, 3,170 workers will be promoted from lineman 2 to lineman 1, while 830 employees will be promoted from lineman 1 to overseer. As many as 90 employees will be promoted from overseer/meter reader to sub engineer. 140 sub engineers will be promoted to assistant engineer.
