Oil PSU officers threaten indefinite strike from May 31'06

Mumbai, May 06 (UNI) Over 45,000 members of the Oil Sector Officers Association (OSOA) have threatened an indefinite strike from May 31 protesting against non-implementation of a decision to revise salaries with effect from January 1, 2002.

The Association was making a case for an entry-level salary of Rs 50,000 per month for management trainees and commensurate rise in emoluments at senior levels, it said in a press release.

A strike could mean a loss of Rs 164.5 crore on oil sales of 5,22,000 barrels a day, besides Rs 17.28 crore on gas sales of 54 million standard cubic metres a day. Loss of value added products production (naphtha, high speed diesel, kerosene) is expected to be 9,300 tonnes per day, according to estimates made by the Association of Scientific&Technical Officers (ASTO) of ONGC.

According to officers association(OSOA), the Association had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas on January 11, 2000 for the upward revision of wages with effect from January 1, 2002. The MoU has not yet been implemented.

The OSOA is a representative body of all oil sector public sector undertakings, which include Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and GAIL (India). ONGC officers are represented through ASTO, which has 24,000 members.

UNI SN PM AW1658