MUMBAI : Over 12,000 employees of state-run Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd (BPCL) who have threatened to go on strike on 28 November against the Union government’s decision to privatise the company may see workers’ unions of other public sector entities join them in solidarity.
Senior BPCL workers’ union functionaries told Mint that unions cutting across political affiliations from other public sector undertakings (PSUs) such as Indian Oil Corp. Ltd (IOC), Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd (ONGC), Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd (HPCL), Indian Railways, Mahanagar Telecom Nigam Ltd (MTNL), and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) will join them in planned nationwide protests.
“If the government does not reconsider its decision on BPCL’s privatization, we would be joined by employees of other oil companies in our strike which will go on for multiple days,” said Praveen Kumar P., general secretary of Cochin Refineries Employees Association, an affiliate of Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC). In an emailed response, a BPCL spokesperson said, “BPCL employee unions have given a strike notice that they plan to observe a day’s strike on 28 November.
