Impasse continues as HAL management and workers differ on wage revision

BENGALURU: About 19,000 workers of defence public-sector undertaking Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) stayed away from work for the second consecutive day as the management stuck to its offer on revising wages. As the production has come to a grinding halt since Monday, the management hopes to convince the workers to withdraw the protest at the earliest.

“We opted for wage revision as our financial performance has been satisfying. The union is putting forward unreasonable demands, which we can not meet. Everyone is complaining that the labour cost of HAL is very high. We have to be cost-competitive. We will not get orders in the future unless customers see the value for money,” said CB Ananthakrishnan, Director (Finance) at HAL, addressing reporters on Tuesday.