Coal India Says Wage Increase Within Expectation

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><root available-locales="en_US," default-locale="en_US"><static-content language-id="en_US"><![CDATA[<p>Coal India, the world's largest coal miner, will sign a five-year agreement with its workers' unions to increase wages by 25 per cent, which will add about Rs 4000 crore to its annual wage bill, a senior executive said.<br><br>The state-run company has been in negotiations with its five recognised unions, representing most of its 360,000 workers, for several months. The new accord will be signed by the last week of January, he said.<br><br>"It is in line with our expectations. We have already made provisions," said R Mohan Das, director of personnel, adding the company had started making provisions from the September quarter.<br><br>The agreement, effective from July 1, 2011, provides for a minimum three percent increase in wages annually, while increase in other allowances will push this up further, he said.<br><br>(Reuters)</p>