HYDERABAD, April 23: The CBA of the Faran Sugar Mills on Wednesday threatened to launch a protest campaign if the mill’s management did not reinstate the recently-terminated 426 workers immediately. The mill is located in Shaikh Bhirkio.

The president of the Mazdoor Union of Faran Sugar Mills, Abdul Latif Katiyar and the union’s general secretary, Abdul Karim Mangwano, while speaking at the local press club, said that the employees had been terminated in violation of the Standing Orders Ordinance 1968.

They said that under Section 11(a) of the said ordinance, prior permission from the labour court was necessary if over 50 per cent workers were to be sacked. This, they said, was not done.

They said that the mill ended its crushing season on April 11, after which the seasonal and retained workers were relieved of their duties.

They said that on April 15, an agreement was signed between the mill’s management and the union in the presence of the deputy director, labour, Hyderabad, according to which the permanent workers were to be sent on leave en bloc between April 18 and May 25. They said that before being relieved, the workers were also to be paid their salaries.

They complained that within three days of the signing of the agreement, 426 employees had been dismissed through a newspaper advertisement.

On April 16, only a day after signing the agreement, the mill’s management had filed a case in the concerned labour court, requesting permission for sacking over 50 per cent permanent work force.

Leaders of the union said that the management, without waiting for the court orders, had sacked the permanent employees through an advertisement appearing in a local newspaper on April 18.

A heavy contingent of police, they said, had been deployed at the factory’s gate along with the armed hoodlums to harass the workers.

They said that the additional director, labour, Hyderabad, had served a show-cause notice on the mill’s management on April 19, declaring the retrenchment of workers as being illegal.

Workers, they said, had also been warned in their termination orders, to vacate their quarters in the workers’ colony within the next two days otherwise they would have to face eviction by force.