Coal India Ltd. workers will go on strike next month to protest a plan by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to raise at least $3.3 billion by selling stake in the state-owned monopoly miner.
Four of five leading unions at the company will halt work on 24 November to oppose the share-sale plan, said Jibon Roy, secretary general of the All India Coal Workers Federation, which comprises the five bodies. Stoppage of a day’s work will lead to a production loss of about 1.3 million metric tons worth about Rs200 crore ($32.6 million).
The government plans to sell 10% in the company as part of a Rs63,400 crore, asset-sale programme to narrow the fiscal deficit to a seven-year low. After an initial public offering in 2010, the additional sale in Coal India is seen by unions as a further step toward the eventual opening up of the industry to private players, said Roy.
The Kolkata-based miner, the second-biggest employer after the Indian railways with 325,000 workers, has been beset by labour trouble and frequent strike threats. Keeping the unions in check is crucial for the miner, which has missed output goals in at least the past four years and is often held responsible for India’s electricity woes.
“We haven’t received any communication from the unions,” Coal India’s personnel director R. Mohan Das said. “Let’s see how much interest the workers show.”
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-backed Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh skipped today’s meeting, said union leader Roy.
Coal India rose 3% to Rs370.55 at the close in Mumbai on Friday.
Friends of Coal (North East) 