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OIL SECTOR OFFICERS

ASSOCIATION

OILMENS AGITATION NARRATION OF FACTS

The country has witnessed a strike by Oil Sectors Officers Association (OSOA),

which continued for an unprecedented three days. In the media the Officers were

painted as villains & terrorists. A false propaganda was unleashed regarding the

hefty pay scales of Oilmen & the media labeled us traitors.

We bore this onslaught with stoic silence, as nobody including the government was

willing to listen to our point of view. Our voice was effectively silenced in the media

& the country got to hear only one side of the story.

We would like to tell you our side of the tale, which led to the agitation witnessed by

the country. Historically Oil Sector has never believed in treading the path of strike.

In the past strikes have been withdrawn within a few hours as the government was

prepared to sit across the table for resolution & we too had appreciated the

governments point of view.

This year the issue was of pay revision of Oil Sector which was taking place after

twelve years & was pending for last two years. Government had set up a pay

revision committee (PRC) under chairmanship of Justice M. J. Rao in Nov06. After

eighteen months of deliberations the committee gave their recommendations inMay08. Since then we were requesting government to implement the same with

modifications. However D.P.E. instead of considering the report gave it to a

committee of secretaries (COS) for review in deviation to the set practice.

Surprisingly the COS with only two sittings drastically changed the pay structure

inflicting major damage to the A+ Category which was dominated by Oil Sector.

On two different occasions we gave strike notices & withdrew the same on

assurances of government. Particularly on 17.11.08 the Honble Ministers Sh.

Santosh Mohan Deb & Sh. Murli Deora gave specific & categoric assurances to us

for bettering the recommendations of COS & to look after the interest of Oil Sector.

To our surprise what finally was approved by both D.P.E. & Cabinet was in total

contradiction to the assurances and proposals of Oil Sector management. This

completely shattered our trust and therefore it was decided to launch agitation from

2.12.2008. Unfortunately the terror strike at Mumbai on 26.11.2008 shook the entire

country and Oil Sector Officers Association was also not insensitive to the situation

therefore placing the interest of the nation and people at large uppermost, the

agitation was deferred.

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Meanwhile Oil Company Managements forwarded their proposal with certain

modifications to MOP&NG on 5.12.2008. No favorable response was received.

Instead, a false propaganda was launched wherein the salaries of entry

level officer was depicted as more than one lac. This consolidated our notionthat no help will be forthcoming in regard to pay revision. Therefore it was decided

that in case no favorable outcome comes out by 31.12.2008, the OSOA should

finally launch agitation w.e.f. 07.01.09.

We were expecting that we will be called for discussions on 6.01.2009 and we shall

be able to conclude the strike call but it was not so. We were left with no other

option but to commence the strike on 07.01.2009. An opinion got created due to

false propaganda of salaries ranging between 1 to 3lacs that oil company

officers are highly paid and are agitating without any issues and want to

blackmail through striking work. Probably due to this, no efforts were

made to initiate dialogue/ negotiation. Instead ESMA was imposed &disciplinary actions were inflicted. On 07.01.2009 evening, Honorable Sh. Murli

Deora did make efforts to open the dialogue process but deployment of heavy

police at the meeting place scared us away and no dialogues could take place.

On 08.01.2009 on our own initiative we tried to open dialogues with Oil CMDs with a

view to end the strike. This resulted in a meeting with them at about 1200 hrs at

IOCL office Noida but unfortunately when we were about to reach a settlement,

police raided the place and we had to rush out without reaching any conclusion.

Meanwhile we continued dialogues with CMDs and Honble MOP&NG which resulted

in a meeting at IOC Colony at Noida, where we again requested for resolution of at

least a few if not all points for an honorable settlement. The Honble Minister leftwithout any assurance stating that he will get a mandate from Honble Prime

Minister on 09.01.2009.

On 09.01.2009 right from the morning we tried to contact Honble Minister MOP&NG

in vain. When it became clear that no solution forthcoming from any quarter, and

the public had started facing hardships we decided to call off the strike on our own

in the after noon, however we had no means to convey the same to the authorities

till about 5 p.m. when we could get in touch with CMDs and then with the Honble

Minister MOP&NG.

It is pertinent to mention that on all 3 days of the said agitation media did not putour side of the story instead launched a carefully crafted campaign to malign our

image in the eyes of public. The electronic communications giving our side to the

media were blocked & our voice was effectively gagged. We the victims were made

out to be villains & the public opinion was swung against us.

We had no intention of causing discomfort to the public & had ensured that all our

Retail Outlets & LPG godowns are topped up before commencing our agitation on

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07.01.09. Our outlets have enough tankage to tide over minimum five days but

probably the signals regarding downward price revision deterred the

dealers/distributors from storing product to capacity despite our instructions &

intentions.

The oil company officers have been faithfully serving this country in hail & storm.We have ensured that energy needs of the public & industry are taken care of

without any disruption. The brightest minds of this country are serving the Oil

Sector & are fully committed to the nation. The biggest testimony of our loyalty

could be witnessed during the Kargil war where our officers stood with our soldiers

on the frontline ensuring uninterrupted supply of fuel. Even during the Mumbai

terror strike regardless of personal safety our officers were out day and night only to

see that the common public is not further put to inconvenience.

We man stations from Leh to Port Blair in extreme adverse conditions only to see

that the public needs are fulfilled. The officers working offshore on the rigs do not

get to see the faces of their family for months together. There are hardly 10% of theofficers who get to sit in air-conditioned rooms contrary to what was portrayed by

the Media.

This appeal is not aimed at playing a blame game but a very sincere effort to put

our point of view to obliterate the stigma attached to oilmen.

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