Bokaro: Thousands of workers staged a massive protest under the banner of Karantikari Ispat Mazdoor Sangh (KIMS), a unit of the Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS), at the Chief General Manager’s office of SAIL-Bokaro Steel Plant’s (BSL) Blast Furnace on Saturday.
The protest was ignited by allegations of a conspiracy to fire workers demanding medical examinations and minimum wage. Starting at Furnace No. 3, the demonstration escalated into a heated confrontation at the Chief General Manager’s office.
Rajendra Singh, General Secretary and member of the NJCS, led the protest, accusing SAIL Bokaro and Blast Furnace Management of continuously insulting and harassing employees.
“Perhaps they forget that bonded labor and slavery are long gone,” Singh declared. “Upper management’s attitude toward contract workers is unfathomable, despite record output from these workers’ sweat and blood.”
Singh criticized the management for allegedly enacting new policies aimed at jeopardizing the livelihoods of long-term employees. He claimed that workers were being fired for seeking minimum wage and that new medical check-up requirements were being unfairly enforced.
“Hundreds of officials continue working despite suffering from diabetes, high blood pressure, and other conditions, yet they claim a contract worker is unfit if his height is even one centimeter lower. This level of quality can only be found at the Bokaro Steel Plant,” he added.
The workers’ grievances also include the lack of pending benefits such as group insurance, gratuity, night shift allowance, and grade progression. Singh questioned how workers, especially those above the ESIC limit, would be managed given rising labor rates and dependent costs. “These people only know exploitation and have an inferiority mentality towards contract workers,” he asserted.
Singh demanded the immediate revocation of the policy declaring workers unfit based on medical examinations and called for the provision of all necessary facilities, including job guarantees.
He warned that failure to comply would result in an indefinite strike by contract laborers across the entire plant, with management bearing full responsibility for any ensuing disruptions.
