Labour Commission calls conciliation meet over HUL lockout

Guwahati, July 17 (UNI) The stalemate over the lockout of the Hindustan Unilever Ltd's (HUL) personal products factory at Doomdoma in Tinsukia district of upper Assam continued, with the state Labour Commission intervening to resolve the issue.

A conciliation meeting between the factory management and workers will be convened by the district Assistant Labour Commissioner M N Konwar tomorrow, after the HUL declared a lockout at the factory from July 15, stating illegal strike by the workers has forced the management to take the step.

Trouble had erupted after the management had refused to pay the Settlement Implementation Allowance (SIA) to employees from April this year, as was agreed upon in 2004, claiming that the workers had failed to comply with the clauses of the agreement and had indulged in various illegal activities such as flash strikes and work stoppages.

Work had been halted at the factory since July 6 last after the workers gheraoed and kept executives of the factory confined in a room for 16 hours on that day.

Mr Konwar informed over telephone that he had received a notice from the HUL informing about the lockout on July 15 through a messenger of the company. No executive of the factory had communicated with him since then.

The meeting called by the Assistant Labour Commissioner yesterday between the feuding parties before the lockout was called was attended by the workers' side, with the factory management sending message on Sunday of its decision to abstain from the meeting.

Mr Konwar said, ''We have taken the statement of the workers yesterday. We have now called for a conciliation meeting tomorrow.'' He, however, refrained from stating the possible follow-up action if the HUL management did not attend the meeting, hinting that the workers' best interest would be borne in mind before deciding on the future steps.

''If they abstain tomorrow, I will have to write to the government asking for their decision, and also put in my suggestions keeping the interests of the workers in mind,'' he added.

Mr Konwar pointed out that the HUL's statement that the workers were striking was incorrect as the workers had reported for work from July 8 and the absence of the executives of the factory had halted work.

He said, ''The workers had also tendered written apology and had promised to follow the directions of the management. Yet, the management decided to call the lockout, which is indeed strange.'' UNI