All the anticipation for the much awaited truce meeting between the protesting employees of the Muthoot Finance Ltd and the Muthoot management, chaired by the Kerala Labour Minister TP Ramakrishnan reached an anti climax on Wednesday as representatives of the management failed to appear for the meeting.
Scores of employees of one of India's largest gold financing company have been protesting across the state of Kerala citing poor salary, denial of decent bonus and other issues. The indefinite protest of the employees union of Muthoot Finance, under the banner of Non-Banking and Private Finance Employees Association (NPFEA) had begun on August 20. With the meeting having failed to reach a consensus, the union members are looking to continue with the protest.
By stating that a proper solution cannot be arrived without the cooperation of both the parties involved, Minister TP Ramakrishnan informed that the meeting between the management and the employees union has been shifted to September 9 in Ernakulam.
"The discussion was to take place at 3 pm at the government guest house here in Thiruvananthapuram. I had come prepared for it. It was only at 2:45pm after I reached here, that I got the the message that none of the representatives from the management side will be present for the meeting," said the minister.
Speaking to TNM, Nisha K Jayan, the Secretary of the Employees' Union lashed out at the management, accusing them of taking the matter lightly despite the seriousness of the issue. "We had come all the way from Ernakulam to Thiruvananthapuram to make our stand clear but they don't seem to be ready to solve the issue. Shows how seriously they are looking at the crisis," she said.
On Wednesday, newspapers had carried an advertisement from the Muthoot management regarding the closing of 15 branches of the company in Kerala. Although the reason for the closure was not mentioned, Nisha responded by stating that, "these are methods by the management to attack the branches in which most of the office bearers of the union including myself are working in. With the closure of these 15 branches, jobs of around 50 union members have been lost."
Addressing a press meet on Tuesday, George Alexander, the Managing Director (MD) of the company stated that the company does make an overall profit, but claimed that their business in Kerala has been suffering over the years. “We have more than 600 branches in Kerala, but of our total business, Kerala constituted only 10 percent. This came down to a meagre 4 percent over the last couple of years,” he had said.