CPT to set up Industrial Relations Mechanism to avert flash strikes

Kochi, Dec 1 (UNI) Facing the brunt of two lightning strikes in a month paralysing all port operations last month, the Cochin Port Trust (CPT) today decided to set up an 'Industrial Relations Committee' to avert flash strikes.

This decision was taken at a meeting convened by CPT Chairperson N Ramachandran with the representatives of all registered employees unions and representatives of the India Gateway Terminal Pvt Ltd (IGTPL), which operates the Rajiv Gandhi Container Terminal at the port, a CPT spokesman said here.

The committee headed by Port Secretary Cyril G George, would consist of two labour trustees and a Head of Department (HoD).

One representative of the Union would present the grievances to the committee.

Any issue, which cannot be resolved at the HoD level, would be brought before the committee.

As regards the issue of handling containers brought by rail, which triggered off two rounds of flash strikes at the port last month, the meeting decided that a committee would be consituted to formulate a solution and that it would submit its report to the CPT chairman within two weeks.

The members of the committee would be labour trustees Mohd Haneef and C D Nandakumar, a representative of the IGTPL and Port Secretary Cyril C George.

While the CPT management and the IGTPL agreed to honour an agreement of January one, 1984, which says that labourers would be booked to handle inland container depot (ICD) containers, the issue of inland containers brought in BLC (Bogey Low Container) rakes would be resolved through mutual discussions in the committee set up for the purpose.

The meeting, which was convened on the directions of Union Shipping Minister T R Baalu, was also attended by Chandran Pillai, MP.

UNI