Contract staff face uncertain future at Indian Rare Earths

KOLLAM: As the woes of the evictees of  Indian Rare Earths  here continue, around 250 contract employees of the company, who have been working for the last 20 years, are still unsure about their jobs. The company was given a deadline to regularize the employees, but it still recruits new persons neglecting the current employees.

The employees had held talks with the authorities and an agreement had been made on their regularisation  in the existing 245 vacancies. “The deadline to regularise the employees was fixed  on February 9, but  no action was taken  in the case of employees who have been awaiting a permanent job for the last 20 years,” said Mr K. Unnikrishan of  CITU employees union.

The IRE has announced that the regularisation of the employees will be “considered” based on the norms at the time of new recruitments. The stand, however, is against the agreement with the employees  that they would be regularised based on the anticipated vacancies in the company.