TEAM HERALD
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SANGUEM: About 54 employees of a mining firm in Caurem-Rivona have resorted to agitation in front of the company gate at Caurem-Sanguem as they are unhappy with the settlements offered by the company.
The employees working in different capacities are agitating since March 1 as the settlement terms arrived at by the company are not acceptable to the affected employees. “The terms are one sided and arrived without any consultation with the affected employees,” claimed a worker.
It may be recalled that the company had retrenched locals employed at the mines since February despite the mining issue being before the Supreme Court. As part of the settlement package, the company reportedly provided affected employees with one month salary, bonus at 8.33 %, payment towards leave compensation and 30 days gratuity payment. However the compensation package is not acceptable to the affected employees as they claim it was arrived at without any logic or taking the employees into confidence.
Speaking to Herald, agitating workers said that when the company management visited the Caurem mines in January, workers had asked company officials for half payment till the resumption of mining activities. However the company officials without considering the request retrenched the locals and offered a package with terms not acceptable to the employees, as some claim that they have been working for the company for the last 15 to 18 years.
The affected employees informed that when the company had just commenced mining operations in the village, they had extended their whole support and co-operation to the company despite opposition from fellow villagers. “However the company has now failed to consider our genuine demands,” said an employee.
The affected workers have demanded from the company a minimum of five years salary in addition to that due to them. They have also demanded immediate resumption of a school bus and provision for irrigation water facility in the village which the company has stopped since the employees have gone on agitation.
