Coal India’s unions are seeking a festival bonus of at least ₹60,500, which was paid to each of the 270,000 workers last year, for Durga Puja shopping that would include high-end mobile phones, appliances and computers, a workers’ representative said. They plan to negotiate with the management on Tuesday.
SQ Zama, secretary-general of the Indian National Mine Workers’ Federation said workers deserve a bigger bonus of ₹80,000-100,000 because the company has performed well.
This would cost Coal India ₹2,100-2,600 crore. Its 17,000 executives are not eligible for bonus.
DD Ramanandan, president at All India Coal Workers Federation, said union leaders generally agree to figure between last year’s pay out and the amount they demand.
He said workers had high aspirations. “With time, aspirations of workers have also changed. They now aspire for high-end mobile phones or a computer since living standards of these people and their family members have also improved with time. The spend is spread over a month starting with Durga Puja to Diwali,” he said.
According to a former Coal India chairman, the state-run miner had paid around ₹30,000 to each employee during 2010 and it used to be mostly spent on garments and a host of gadgets that these workers aspired for, including scooters or television sets.
