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Journalism of Courage
MUMBAI, March 8: The Bombay High Court today upheld an Industrial Court judgement declaring the lockout at Oswal Petrochemicals as illegal.
However, Justice M J Pandya has stayed the order of lifting the lockout for three weeks to allow the company to appeal against the decision to a division bench, the judgement comes as a relief to around 600 of its workers and staff officials who have been suffering a lockout since October 1998.
Oswal Petrochemicals, a unit of Oswal Agro, was closed, ostensibly for carrying out maintenance work in September 1998 following which it declared a lock out. According to the management, the company had become non-viable.
Among the other options put forward by the company for bringing the plant on its feet, were that the staffers and workers give up transport facilities, accept a stiff 50 per cent cut in their salaries as well as exercise the voluntary retirement scheme, option.
