Ordnance Factory Board workers begin month-long nationwide strike

The workers unions claim corporatisation plans for OFB will lead to privatisation

giriraj-singh-oft Giriraj Singh examining a grenade launcher made by a unit of the OFB at an exhibition | Wikimedia Commons

Civilian employees of the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) began a one-month strike on Tuesday at its defence manufacturing units across the country, demanding immediate withdrawal of the Narendra Modi government's 'corporatisation' plans.

The strike, called by three workers' federations, claimed that 'corporatisation' of the OFB, which has headquarters in Kolkata, will eventually lead to its privatisation.

OFB chairman Saurabh Kumar, however, reasoned that the proposed move by the Centre is aimed at providing greater flexibility in day-to-day functioning and increasing autonomy in decision-making.

"This will enable the ordnance factories to respond faster to the futuristic needs of the armed forces and provide an impetus to the export potential of its products," Kumar, who is also the director general of Ordnance Factories, said.

The ministry of defence had earlier clarified that it had no plan to privatise the ordnance factories.

A joint press statement issued by the three recognised employees' federations claimed that talks with the ministry to resolve the matter have failed to reach a solution.

"The strike commenced at 6am on Tuesday. It is set to continue for one month, till September 20, if a solution is not reached before that. The federations urge the Centre to reconsider its decision to corporatise the ordnance factories and withdraw the same in the interest of the defence preparedness of our country and also the service life of 82,000 employees," the statement said.

A statement by the unions later in the day claimed the first day of the strike was a “total success”. “Strike was a total success in Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Odisha, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh (Jabalpur, Katni), Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar and Chandigarh, where the ordnance factories are located,” The Hindu BusinessLine reported.

Several committees, over the past two decades, have recommended the conversion of ordnance factories into a public sector company, it claimed.

"But the ordnance factories being war reserve and solely dependent on the armed forces cannot function as a commercially viable PSU," the statement added.

A committee of senior officials of the defence ministry, led by additional secretary of the department of defence production, along with the OFB chairman, had met the office-bearers of the federations on August 14 and August 16 to discuss the matter.

"The committee explained to the employee organisations that there is no proposal to privatise OFB. The Centre is considering a proposal to make it a defence public sector undertaking (DPSU), which is 100 per cent government-owned," the ministry had said in its statement.

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