Ordnance manufacturing unit employees’ federations to launch joint agitation in opposition to determination to transform OFB into 7 company entities

The three recognised federations of ordnance manufacturing unit employees with affiliations to the Left, the RSS and the Congress have strongly opposed the central authorities’s determination to transform the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) into seven company entities and mentioned they’ll launch a joint agitation in opposition to it.
The three federations which have created an united entrance in opposition to the central authorities’s determination are — All India Defence Employees’ Federation (AIDEF) of Left unions; Bhartiya Pratiraksha Mazdoor Sangh (BPMS), an arm of RSS-affiliate Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh; and Indian National Defence Workers’ Federation (INDWF) of the Indian National Trade Union Congress.
BPMS General Secretary Mukesh Singh mentioned, “BPMS strongly condemns this draconian decision of the government and is determined to fight it tooth and nail. On Tuesday, the conciliation mechanism with the Chief Labour Commissioner came to an end abruptly due to the adamant stand taken by government representatives. We are in consultation with the other two recognised federations of employees.”
C Srikumar and R Srinivasan, basic secretaries of AIDEF and INDWF respectively, mentioned all three federations will launch a joint agitation in opposition to the federal government transfer.
In April, the three federations had complained to the Chief Labour Commissioner of India, stating that their employer, the Department of Defence Production (DDP) beneath the Defence Ministry, was “blatantly violating” the conciliation settlement reached between them in October final yr when the federations had deferred the strike they’d referred to as in opposition to corporatisation of the OFB.
The federations had mentioned of their criticism, “While the federations and the trade unions at the unit level are fully implementing the conciliation settlement, the DDP has started violating the settlement by issuing a letter allowing the consultancy firms to proceed with its work.”
In spite of the sturdy opposition from the three primary employee federations, the Ministry of Defence had been taking concrete steps in direction of changing the OFB into 100 per cent government-owned company entities.

The OFB, an umbrella physique for ordnance factories and associated establishments, is at present a subordinate workplace of the MoD. The organisation dates again over 200 years and is headquartered in Kolkata. It is a conglomerate of 41 factories, 9 coaching institutes, three regional advertising centres and 5 regional controllers of security.
A serious chunk of the weapon, ammunition and provides for not simply armed forces but additionally paramilitary and police forces come from OFB-run factories at present. Their merchandise embody civilian and army grade arms and ammunition, explosives, propellants and chemical compounds for missiles programs, army automobiles, armoured automobiles, optical gadgets, parachutes, assist gear, troop clothes and basic retailer gadgets.
While at the very least three committees on defence reforms arrange by the governments between 2000 and 2015 have really helpful the corporatisation, it had not been carried out until now. The notion of corporatisation was listed as one of many 167 ‘transformative ideas’ to be carried out within the first 100 days of the Narendra Modi authorities’s second time period.
One of the principle apprehensions of the staff is that corporatisation would ‘eventually lead to privatisation.’ Another key concern is that company entities wouldn’t be capable to survive the distinctive market atmosphere of defence merchandise that has a really unstable demand and provide dynamics. The employees additionally worry job losses.