Anger as ONGC hires rtd. staff as consultants
ONGC has backed down over a proposal to hire retired staff as consultants on workover rigs after angry protests at its CBM block BK-CBM-2001/1 at Bokaro in Jharkhand.
Angry contract workers at ONGC are upset that management is hiring retired employees as consultants instead of giving casual staff confirmed or 'regular' jobs. In protest, casual workers blocked ONGC offices last month (March) at the gates of its complexes over a decision to hire 57 retired staff as junior and associate consultants at Bokaro.
In the face of sustained protests, ONGC's human resources office asset issued a one-page notice on March 13 (2023) saying the proposal to hire retired staff as consultants for two years on workover rigs "stands cancelled due to administrative reasons." An ONGC spokesman insists the cancellation is not in response to protests but because the company realised it needed a broader range of consultants.
"Especially in Bokaro (with its CBM activity), there is a need for specialised consultants with experience in mine safety," he said. But an ONGC employee union source refutes this argument, saying management is hiring retired staff as consultants across the country, including Mumbai, to save on Provident Fund (PF) and medical expense payments that must be legally provided to regular employees.
"At ONGC alone, there are 18,000 casual or contract workers plus about 4000 seasonal workers hired during seismic surveys or other assignments," says a union source. "This is in addition to the 28,000 regular employees at ONGC; many of them (casual workers) have been with ONGC for years."
During February and March (2023) ONGC issued advertisements to hire, for at least one year, executives aged less than 65 who retired at the E1 (assistant executive engineer), E2 (deputy engineer), E3 (manager), E4 (chief manager), E5 (deputy general manager) and even at E6 (general manager) levels at the Mehsana, Ahmedabad, and Cambay assets in the production and materials management divisions. "To some extent, one can understand the hiring of these consultants in technical disciplines such as production, but what's the logic of hiring retired executives in materials management?" asks a source.
"There's nothing technical in MM; all they do is organise purchases, issue tenders and process them."