India Signs Wage Pact with Port and Dock Workers

The 12 Indian major ports run by the state will raise the wages of its more than 32,000 port and dock workers and some 105,000 pensioners by 10.6 per cent beginning January 2017, according to a five-year agreement signed on Thursday.

"A new wage settlement agreement has been signed for Group C & D category of Port and Dock Workers in Mumbai in the presence of Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Shipping," said a press statement from the government.

More than 32,000 Port and Dock workers and 1,05,000 Group C&D pensioners across all Major Ports will be benefitted from of this settlement.

Shri Gadkari said, “As per the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, welfare of the people is the chief priority of the Government, and I am glad that Major Ports are becoming drivers of socio-economic change. Major Ports have become pioneers in taking this initiative, being the first to sign the wage settlement for Group C & D employees.”

The settlement has been signed between six Port and Dock Workers’ Federations and the Port Management under Section 12(3) of Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, before the Regional Labour Commissioner, representing Chief Labour Commissioner.

The Settlement would come into force from January 1, 2017 in retrospect. This is a five-year settlement arrived at in the port sector against the ten-year periodicity in many of the major public sector enterprises.