Regd. 1657 of dated 18th November 1954 Affiliated to INTUC and NPFW
During the period of 1940s there were mainly 3 foreign companies in the field of storage and distribution of petroleum products throughout the country. They were: Burma-Shell, Standard Vacuum and Caltex. The workmen were mainly controlled by communist leaders. The managements were very strong and autocratic. Therefore, the workmen were not getting their dues and various facilities. The workmen were losing faith in the trade union organization and they were looking for some able leadership. There were no refineries in the country at that time.
After independence, the Government felt that the petroleum industry is a core sector and, therefore, they gave more importance to the refineries and marketing of petroleum products. Major amount of foreign exchange was used for importing crude oil. Therefore, during 1950s Oil & Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) was formed as a separate department of Petroleum Ministry for the purpose of drilling and exploration of crude oil. During the same period, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) was formed as an Indian company to start refineries and marketing of petroleum products. As more and more importance was given to IOC, the foreign oil companies were facing serious problems and, therefore, reduction of staff and harassment of workmen had started in these oil companies. As the workmen were very much dissatisfied with the operating unions which were controlled by communist leaders, the employees from Burma-Shell approached Shri Raja Kulkarni, who started career as a student movement leader and also a freedom fighter, to form a separate union. He was knowledgeable and his liking for social work, attracted him to trade union movement and Petroleum Employees Union (PEU) was formed and registered on 18th November, 1954.
From 1954 till 1974 there were not many activities to mention. During the Indo-Pak war in 1972 the country was facing acute shortage of petroleum products. The foreign oil companies were not very cooperative during the time of war. This created lot of hue and cry in the political circle.
Our President, Shri Raja Kulkarni, was an elected Member of Parliament from Mumbai North-East Constituency and raised the issue of national integrity of these oil companies in the Parliament. The Parliament took a serious note of this issue and moved the proposal for nationalizing these foreign oil companies, with the result that Burma-Shell was renamed as Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL); Standard Vacuum and Caltex were merged and named as Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (HPCL). All these oil companies were nationalized in the year 1974. Our President, Shri Raja Kulkarni, played a very important role in nationalizing these oil companies. The Managements of these oil companies had totally opposed nationalization, but they could not succeed. During 1979, PEU was established in ONGC (Western Region) and also INTUC affiliated unions started functioning in ONGC all over the country. All these unions in ONGC were headed by Shri Raja Kulkarni as President and Coordinator. During this period, we had also formed unions in Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) under the leadership of Shri Raja Kulkarni and it was kept as a separate entity called National Association of Indian Oil Employees (NAIOE).
At the time of nationalization and up to the year 1982-83 there was not much progress in the wage settlement. The workmen were recruited on temporary basis for years together. Our union raised the banner of revolt against unfair labour practices of these oil companies and signed a historic settlement in BPCL in the year 1982 whereby thousands of temporary workmen were made permanent and proper pay scale and other facilities were extended to the workmen in BPCL and also in HPCL. Thereafter, our union was in continuous association with the workmen of BPCL, HPCL, IOC and ONGC and had entered into agreements with the managements of oil companies, from time to time. The workmen continuously received substantial increase in their salary and other facilities. The union was required to fight from two sides – one side with the managements of oil companies and with the Central Government on the other side as they are the major owners of these oil companies. While fighting from two sides, our Union had taken utmost care to see that the industry is not suffered. We have never indulged in any destructive activities or damaging the properties of the companies and also we had not gone on any indefinite strike or paralyze the activities of the oil companies. Though we were non-violent, we remained as the strongest union in the petroleum industry for the last 50 years.
Today we are proud to say that because of our constructive approach an unskilled worker in the petroleum industry today is drawing salary between Rs. 15000 to Rs. 25000 per month and a skilled worker is drawing between Rs. 20000 to Rs. 30000, which is not an easy task for any union. Other than pay scales, the workmen are getting 20 to 30% bonus and an attractive medical scheme covering the entire family for the actual expenditure incurred. Liberal housing loan and vehicle loan facilities put the workers in the middle income group in the petroleum industry and they are placed better than any other industry workers.
We have taken serious steps to improve the standard of living of these workmen through various training programmes, seminars, etc. In the process, the workmen of Lubrizol India Ltd., IBP Co. Ltd., Mahanagar Gas Ltd., Tide Water Oil Co. (India) Ltd. and Indian Petrochemicals Ltd., had joined the PEU, making it a very big family of more than 20000 workmen. We are very pleased to say that our union is the biggest union in the petroleum industry carrying a large number of workmen from different oil companies. The Constitution of our Union is very broad-based and can accommodate all workmen who are concerned with the petroleum industry and, therefore, we had organized a large number of contract labours and fought various court cases in the High Court and also in the Supreme Court. It has resulted into a large number of contract labours made permanent in BPCL, HPCL and ONGC. These contract workmen were fully exploited by the contractors and the Managements. Because of our intervention these contract workmen are drawing fair wages and other facilities.
For the last 50 years we had been holding regular elections every two years, and submitting the audited statements of accounts to the Registrar of Trade Unions regularly. There is transparency in all the activities of the union and it is one of the model organizations in the trade union movement. Internal leaderships are developed and they are trained in such a way that they are doing the social work in true sense and spirit. It is very difficult to maintain a good name in the industry, but we are proud to say that our union, under the leadership of Shri Raja Kulkarni, has maintained a very good reputation amongst the workers, amongst the Managements and also with the Government of India.
Our union was instrumental in modernization and automation in the oil industry. We had cooperated with the managements to become effective in the competitive scenario. We had been educating our members to work towards the prosperity of the organization. There are many trade union leaders who have sacrificed throughout their life for the betterment of PEU, such as, late Shri Vishwas Kulkarni, former General Secretary of HPCL Unit, late Shri Bhagwan Kulkarni, former General Secretary of BPCL Unit and also Secretary General, PEU, Shri K.N. Krishnan, former General Secretary of HPCL Mktg. Unit, Shri Jagade, former General Secretary of ONGC Unit, and Shri Bapu Surve, former General Secretary of IOC. The younger generations of trade union leaders are very grateful to them for their invaluable service.
The PEU has adopted a unique policy of non-violence, non-militancy, and an approach of mutual trust and cooperation. A steady approach towards improving the wages and other facilities of the workmen can also succeed. Our union remains as a strongest union in the petroleum industry and it will continue to work for the workers and will achieve more and more success in improving the standard of living of our members.