Coal India Limited signs MoU with four central trade unions over MGB

Coal India Limited (CIL) said that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with four central trade unions for recommending a 19% Minimum Guaranteed Benefit (MGB) to the company’s 2.38 lakhs non-executive employees as part of the ongoing National Coal Wage Agreement –XI (NCWA-XI).

The four trade unions are BMS, HMS, CITU, and AITUC.

According to Coal India Limited, the 19% MGB is on the emoluments as of 30 June 2021, which covers basic pay, variable dearness allowance, special dearness allowance, and attendance bonus.

Coal India Limited said that Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL), based in Telangana, is the other signatory to the MoU. A total of nearly 2.82 lakh employees of the state-owned coal entities — Coal India Limited and Singareni Collieries Company Limited, who were on the rolls of the former as of 1 July 2021, will be the beneficiaries.

Singareni Collieries Company Limited’s employees account for nearly 44,000.

Coal India Limited signs MoU with four central trade unions over MGB. Photo courtesy of Coal India Ltd.

The recommendation was agreed upon during the eighth meeting of the joint bipartite committee for the Coal Industry-XI held at Coal India Limited’s corporate headquarters in Kolkata earlier this week.

Coal India Limited stated: “The four CTUs have taken a lead in finalizing the MGB amicably. CIL is having a harmonious industrial relations and the unions are also cognizant of the importance of achieving the current’s fiscal’s production target.”

Recently, the Indian government-owned coal mining company announced that its production for the period between April 2022 and December 2022 stood at 479 million tonnes (MTs), which is a growth of 16% compared to the same nine-month period of 2021.