Gawking wages a blot on Kochi Port

KOCHI: Putting a blot on Ernakulam’s distinguished status of ‘Nokkukooli-free’ district, the illegal collection of money by trade union workers has become rampant at the Cochin Port Trust.The unhealthy collection of ‘nokkukooli’ or gawking wages is practised with the knowledge of the Kerala Head-load Workers Welfare Board (KHWWB). So says a letter by the port management to the state government. The KHWWB is supposed to supply labourers for various works at the CPT.The port authorities have sought the immediate intervention of the state government to convene a meeting involving the secretary to the Department of Labour and the Director General of Police. “The competitiveness of the Cochin Port is affected by the head-load workers, who levy payment for the notional deployment of labour. There is widespread notional deployment for handling cargo such as coal where the entire operations are mechanised,” the labour says. “The high cost of labour, combined with  restrictive labour practices such as flash strike and the bargaining for extra payment have made Cochin Port 2.5 times more expensive than Tuticorin for handling fertilisers,” it says.At a time when the DA for direct workers of the Cochin Port has been frozen, the head-load workers imposed a 20 per cent hike in wages from January 1, 2012. Fertiliser shipment brought to the Cochin Port by Indian Potash Ltd in November and December 2011 are yet to be evacuated from the port despite contractual commitments, the letter explains.Although meetings have been held with unions and Joint Labour Commissioner, only 40-60 workers were supplied by the KHWWB for bagging the fertiliser against the demand of 100-120 in the day shift. This has slowed down the work. It has been stated in the document that the port management had been requesting the KHWWB to end compartmentalisation of labour pools. However, the Cochin Thuramukha Thozhilali Union (CTTU) has been resisting this, it says. Despite the fact that these workers earn `1,100 per day, they frequently hold stevedores to ransom. For instance, seven of the 20 wagons in the half-rake placed on March 26 had to go empty, imposing an additional cost of `60,291 to the stevedore.The port management has alleged that the CTTU was blocking deployment of a mechanised bagging unit procured for speedy bagging of fertilisers. The management has demanded fixation of a manning scale for ship operations to prevent union leaders from exacting illegal wages from workers.Another demand in the letter is to strike off those labourers from the port rolls who have been keeping away from work.