HMT workers stage sit in during Onam celebrations over unpaid salaries
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Kochi: Employees of Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) at Kalamassery boycotted the management’s Onam celebrations and staged a sit-in protest on Monday, alleging that their salaries had remained unpaid for three months along with several other financial benefits.
The joint trade union organised the protest at the company’s reception area while refusing to participate in the Onam feast and other programmes arranged by the management at the HMT canteen.
The unions alleged that employees had also been denied performance bonuses, leave encashment and other Onam-related benefits because approval from the Bengaluru corporate office had not been granted, The New Indian Express reported.
According to the unions, they had previously warned the unit management that workers would boycott the celebrations if the pending financial benefits were not released. Despite this, the management went ahead with the Onam programmes without resolving their demands, they alleged.
The unions also said MPs Hibi Eden, John Brittas, Adv Harris Beeran, P P Santhosh Kumar and P P Suneer had met Union Minister for Heavy Industries H D Kumaraswamy and raised concerns over HMT’s financial crisis. They claimed the minister had assured them that a revival package for the company would be implemented soon.
Workers traditionally receive annual and performance bonuses as well as an Onam advance during the festival season, the unions said. With HMT completing 60 years, withholding these benefits was described by them as an anti-worker measure.
The unions further claimed that the Kalamassery unit, which had reported profits consistently in the past, had suffered losses over the last three years. They attributed the deterioration primarily to alleged mismanagement at both the Bengaluru corporate office and the Kalamassery unit.
The joint union has decided to approach MPs and political leaders across Kerala and expand the ‘Save HMT’ forum. The unions maintained that protecting HMT was not only about safeguarding workers’ rights but also about preserving Kerala’s industrial base and employment opportunities for young people.