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| Tata Steel managing director B. Muthuraman. Picture by Uma Shankar Dubey |
Jamshedpur, March 31: About 1,471 workers of Tata Steel have been transferred to Jamshedpur Utilities and Services Company (Jusco), a new company floated by the steel major to cater to municipal services in the city.
Jusco is a subsidiary of Tata Steel. The management and the recognised union of the company, Tata Workers’ Union (TWU), today signed an agreement for the transfer of the workers to the new unit. The employees would join Jusco from tomorrow.
Tata Steel managing director B. Muthuraman and TWU president R.B.B. Singh jointly signed the agreement, along with other officials of the management and the union.
Jusco will provide services in eight areas. These include power, town planning and engineering, civil construction and maintenance, water and wastewater management, guest relations, horticulture, fleet management and education.
“It’s a historic moment for the company in its 97 years of existence,” said Muthuraman, who addressed a joint press conference with Singh after signing the MoU.
The workers transferred to Jusco will continue to enjoy the same wages as they were getting in Tata Steel. Further, they will continue to get LTC, annual bonus and other facilities.
“We have also ensured that if Jusco does not do well, all these employees would be reverted back to the mother company. If any employee (up to the age of 55) does not wish to work in the new unit, he could as for a job transfer to his ward, subject to the approval of the management,” Singh said.
He added that such an employees’ ward would be provided with houses.
Both Muthuraman and Singh admitted that there were “some differences of opinion” between the management and the union on the transfer to Jusco. According to Singh, of the 22 office bearers of TWU, 11 were not present while the MoU was being signed. “I do not know why they were absent,” Singh said.
“We feel that the office bearers who did not attend the meeting are against the welfare of the employees and the company,” officials said.
