From the Hindustani Times, who always delete their stories from the server a few hours after posting them, for some reason, so I’ll just post the whole thing:
LABOUR MINISTER Waqar Ahmad Shah on Monday issued notice to the LML management seeking explanation why not lock-out at its Panki unit should be declared illegal. The minister also sought an explanation from the management why the plant was closed.
The notice, which was issued on Saturday, has solicited an explanation from the LML management within a week. “If the management fails to give any satisfactory reply by Friday then the lock-out will be declared illegal.”
Talking to Hindustan Times on telephone, the labour minister said, “The extreme step of sending notice has been taken after undue delay by the LML management in re-opening its unit.”
He added that earlier the LML management had informed about the efforts being made by it for the re-opening of the plant, therefore some grace period was given to the management.
But, even after passage of the adequate time, no convincing reply had come from the management about ending the lockout, added Shah.
“Notice has been issued to the LML management on Saturday last and if no convincing reply is given then action will be taken by the State Government as per law,” asserted Shah.The minister also said that on Sunday last a delegation of the LML Employees’ Union had come to meet him. “I assured members of the delegation that all due care will be taken about the welfare of employees. I also assured then about the payment of their pending dues,” added Shah.
However, company director RK Srivastav said that the company had not received any notice from the minister. “If any notice is served to the company then its reply will be sent, added Srivastav.
He added that the LML management wanted to restart the unit and a meeting with vendors of the company had also taken place on October 22 last.
So what does that mean for LML and the Star/Stella/Belladonna? Who knows. Probably not much, but we’ll watch closely for more news on Sunday.