New Delhi, Mar 25: Some 30,000 workers at HPCL and BPCL launched a three-day strike from today to oppose privatisation of the refiners, a senior union official said. Analysts said they believed the three-day walkout would be unable to derail the sales, the country's biggest privatisation initiative in its more than decade-old sell-off drive that has been dogged by political and union opposition.
Shares of the two companies were up in morning trade, buoyed by a Supreme Court ruling on Monday that the government could proceed with privatisation of the refiners despite a suit pending before it challenging the selloff, analysts said.
Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd, hold a 40 per cent share of India's oil product market.
The National Secretary of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) said the workers were demanding "the move to privatise these national assets be reversed" but the strike was not aimed at halting operations.
Bureau Report