Find out why SAIL is not giving its employees bonus

MUKUIT Kalita is upset. He had many plans for the festive season. But uncertainty about the bonus for the Maharatna PSU Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) has thrown cold waters in his plan. Like Mukut tens of thousands of SAIL employees are unhappy. The PSU has reportedly denied annual bonus to the workers citing company’s loss.
During the production-productivity meeting held in New Delhi last week, the SAIL management informed the trade union representatives that the...
company was not in a position to give annual bonus to the workers this year. Normally, the bonus is being disbursed during Dussehra-Diwali festival. The officials said SAIL had not yet recovered from the loss that it had incurred in the first quarter of the current fiscal.
Following higher power costs and competition from cheap imports, SAIL incurred a net loss of Rs 321.64 crore in the first quarter of the current fiscal. Of all the SAIL entities, only Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP) and Durgapur Steel Plant (DSP) could make profit. The decision of the company to deny bonus would be effective in all the entities of the SAIL though the trade unions had refused to accept it. “The trade unions would protest the decision at all the forums,” Vinod Kumar Soni, member of National Joint Committee on Steels (NJCS), was quoted as saying.
The SAIL management had however kept the option open and convened the second round of meeting on October 18 to discuss the issue with the trade union representatives. The company spokesperson did not comment on the issue stating that he would check and revert.
According to officials, even if the management agreed for bonus under pressure from the unions, the amount would be less as compared to last year. In BSP, the workers received bonus of about Rs 18,000 on average in 2014.