Are We Wrong to Charge for Water in Employee Quarters? Seeking Advice on Union Dispute

Dear Seniors,

I work in a Central Govt PSU Mines. Here we have allotted quarters to our employees at very low rent and electricity charges. Electricity and water are supplied by us to the quarters. Electricity is purchased from the Central Grid. For water, we are paying a huge cess to the State Govt for drawing water from the river.

Since inception, there has been no instance of taking water charges from the employees who have been allotted quarters. Now, on the direction of our Head Office, we have imposed water charges at Rs. 50/- per month from the employees who have been allotted quarters.

Due to this, the Unions have given a strike notice alleging a change in service conditions for making water chargeable. Are the Unions right? Are we bound to provide free water to them as earlier? Kindly advise.

Discussion on Changing Service Conditions

By giving free water, you have created a right in favor of workers allotted quarters. You cannot change service conditions without giving a Notice of Change as required under the I.D. Act, which the Union would contest anyway. However, the matter could have been discussed across the table, and if you had made a strong case for your proposal, then the matter may have been resolved bilaterally or through the intervention of government machinery (conciliation/adjudication). You can still attempt.

Regards,

V.L. Nagarkar
HR Consultant

Water Charges for Employee Quarters

Your head office is correct in directing you to collect Rs. 50/- from each house/quarter towards water charges. Free water cannot be supplied indefinitely by any state. This does not amount to a change in service conditions. We are all paying water charges at more than Rs. 50/- per month.

The vital question here is whether the company is getting free water. How long can the company bear the entire cost of water? Employees and the union should view the matter in the proper perspective rather than resorting to the threat of a "strike," which reflects the maturity of union leaders.

Supply of free water and electricity

1. Supply of free water and also free electricity to the employees' quarters is a facility that they have enjoyed for many years. Actually, these facilities are/were being provided largely in those areas where employees do not wish to join the job. These facilities are provided to attract the employees; hence, indirectly, it has become a service condition.

Change in service conditions

2. Introducing any change in the service condition requires a notice under Section 9A of the Industrial Disputes Act.

Discussion with unions

3. I presume that you have first discussed this issue with the unions, and when they did not agree, you implemented this change.

Monitoring and controlling supply

4. You should have started with monitoring and controlling the supply timings of water and then gradually moved further.

Misuse of free facilities

5. It is true that such facilities cannot be provided free of cost, as free facilities are always misused.

Charging for Water and Electricity in Employee Quarters

Even when free quarters are allotted, water and electricity charges should be collected separately based on meter readings if meters are installed to monitor and check wasteful consumption. This type of facility is common in mining locations where employees live in remote or polluted areas. Now, the management has decided to charge for water consumption. If it becomes necessary to amend the Standing Orders, they should proceed. This is a very nominal levy, and your officials should communicate with the unions for an amicable settlement. Even if the matter needs to be referred for conciliation, the management should address it.

I hope this helps clarify the communication.

Dear Seniors,

Thank you for your valuable comments. This is to inform you that we failed to recover water charges from the employees. For your knowledge, I am narrating the day-to-day incidents so that you can comment regarding our reason for failure.

Timeline of Events

20/04/17 - We issued the circular for the deduction of water charges and informed the Unions.

24/04/17 - Four out of five operating Unions gave strike notice effective from 29/04/17, alleging a change in service conditions.

25/04/17 - We had a meeting with all Unions. They opposed the deduction. It was briefed that since it was a policy decision, it had to be implemented and was being implemented uniformly throughout all mines of the PSU.

28/04/17 - We had conciliation in the presence of a Labour Enforcement Officer. It was explained that since it was a policy decision, it had to be implemented and was being implemented uniformly throughout all mines of the PSU. The LEO requested deferring the implementation, but we stated that we were unable to stop the deduction.

29/04/17 - In the evening, it was informed by HQ that all mines were uniformly implementing this decision.

30/04/17 (Sunday) - At noon, the paysheet was printed with the deduction of water charges. In the evening, I came to know that three neighboring mines had not deducted the same. The matter was reported to HQ, who were uninformed until then. Late at night, HQ personally requested all Union leaders that due to a communication problem, other mines had not deducted, and thus to maintain congenial IR for one day.

01/05/17 - Since the first shift, all Unions stopped production. I have been blamed for this fuss. Production resumed only upon reprinting of the paysheet without deducting the water charges and issuing a circular deferring the deduction.

Kindly comment.

Dear Baishali, it's obvious that unions will not take it kindly; surely they are going to object and agitate. It's unfortunate that different admin/unions are taking their own stand. The communication gap should have been avoided. Likely, those units which did not implement the recovery yielded to the pressure and went on without recovery by ignoring your communication. It's normal for the electric power in mine quarters to be freely used for all purposes without any limit as there were no meters installed and went unchecked.

Now, all said and done, there appears to be no immediate solution for you. Probably, you have to wait until the negotiation rounds commence for wage revision. At that time, from the management side, you have to press for separate recovery based on metered consumption.

Suggestion for Immediate Action

I may suggest one option right now, which may or may not be possible. You are recovering the house/qrs rent, right? Bifurcate the very same rent into rent + water + electric power + sanitation, of course without any increase overall (keep it at the same level) in the rent amount for the present to place on record that appropriate charges are being recovered. This can be done administratively without even involving the unions for the present by rewriting your payroll program. Later on, you may include it in the agenda for regularization during wage revision time. The hike in wages could be adjusted in the overall increase in their wages.

Safeguarding Against Accusations

I could also suggest safeguarding yourself from possible accusation that you failed to communicate properly to all your units for implementing the recovery by readying the relevant records to show/prove that you did your job adequately but others ignored it if what you narrated is the fact. I also believe your communications in this regard could have been destroyed or not acknowledged to maintain that they have not received. It's your duty to show the record of who received it, when, where, and how.