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In a show of strength the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) trustees have sent show cause notices to the 226 employees who took mass casual leave on August 21 in protest of non payment of bonus before Navroz, August 17 this year. The notice dated August 27 stated the employees "in a concerted manner and by way of a common understanding unauthorizedly abstained yourself from work. The abstention from duty was without any reasonable cause, on account of which, the activities of the Punchayet were disrupted and/or adversely affected.” The employees were "required to submit (their) reply within 72 hours of the receipt of the show cause letter.”
Four days earlier on Parsi New Year as a mark of protest the employees ate "plain masoor dal” instead of the customary "chicken pulav dal and saas ni machhi along with falooda,” stated Mumbai Mazdoor Sabha (MMS) general secretary Dhunji Naterwalla.  The R. J. Mehta founded union is headed by Chand Bibi. Added to the workers’ woes is an unwillingness by the trustees to negotiate a new wage agreement with the workers’ union despite the last one having expired in December 2017, Naterwalla added in a letter dated August 23 to the media, some BPP trustees and others. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BPP chairman Yazdi Desai told the Afternoon Despatch and Courier of August 22 that nonpayment of bonus was because "There was a mismatch of funds. So, we were not able to make payments on time. We don’t know yet if we will even pay them.” Undeterred,  Naterwalla told mid-day  that if the BPP does not invite them for discussion on the wages and other issues "we will write to them once again, after which we will conduct another strike or pursue legal action.” The other options could include filing a complaint in the labor courts for adjudication. Those who went on casual leave excluded staff at the Punchayet office, but included pallbearers at Doongerwadi.  By law, bonus, which is viewed as a deferred wage, has to be paid within eight months of the closing of the financial year; or with permission from the concerned government authority for "sufficient reason” payment can be delayed upto a maximum of two years.
In an email dated August 20, trustee Noshir Dadrawala had noted that Desai has clarified that the terms of the settlement with MMS as recorded states: "Bonus shall be paid 10 days before Diwali or Ganesh Chaturthi or Parsi New Year of that particular year or as may be mutually agreed upon.” He stated that Desai has added "It is clear that there are three festivals, before which bonus is required to be paid... Only Parsi New Year has gone by but two out of the three alternatives proposed in the settlement namely Ganesh Chaturthi and Diwali are still some time away. Consequently the union’s letter and call to observe mass casual leave on August 21 are both premature and illegal.”
BPP trustee Kersi Randeria told Parsiana on August 28, that the total bonus due came to around Rs 77 lakhs. Of this Rs 45 lakhs are to be paid to the workers, seven to pallbearers and 24 to the staff.
Randeria also added that the striking workers "work only 1.5 hours a day and are targeting Doongerwadi, even though we have treated them like family. Excerpts from the internal correspondence among the BPP trustees published in the Parsi Times weekly of August 25, 2018 quotes Randeria as stating, "The union has been rude beyond acceptable norms. They have mocked as and gone to the main line newspapers ridiculing us and our community with quips about masoor dal vs chicken pulav dal and saas ni machhi…
"Seriously…A Parsi union leader threatening to bring our Doongerwadi to a grinding halt for pulav and machhi?” (The general media most likely picked up the story from Parsiana.)
Speaking to Parsiana on August 23,  Randeria said that a few days before August 21, Desai and he had met the Doongerwadi manager Vistaspar Mehta on steps they would take to ensure that "things moved as smoothly as on a normal day.” Singling out volunteers Shahrukh Billimoria, Rumi Marawalla and Rusi Gandhi of Godrej Baug and Nozer Sutaria of Nowroz Baug among others for their support at the Towers of Silence, he said that "if you talk to the family members of any deceased person whose paidast was performed on August 21, you will know that things were very smooth.”
A report in the Metro Junction weekly of August 26, 2018 quotes from BPP trustee Viraf Mehta’s email to Desai, "When the union wrote to us on August 6, requesting that bonus be disbursed 10 days before Parsi New Year, specifically quoting the three religious options, we did not bother to reply or even acknowledge their… letter. Had we considered the request well in advance we would not be in this predicament…
"You have enough money to fight (erstwhile BPP trustee Muncherji) Cama as well as (co trustee Armaity) Tirandaz and myself in court, and various other vindictive cases but when it comes to paying our staff their dues, suddenly the BPP doesn’t have money.”
Naterwalla does not believe there was any illegal strike, "or for that matter any strike organized by the Sabha.” All that the workmen had done was availed of their legitimate casual leave to their credit, he stated. Leave application forms were filled by all, he noted in his August 23 letter.
Ascribing the August 21 episode to the BPP’s "adamant attitude,” Naterwalla said that the previous settlement regarding revision in service conditions of the workmen and staff had expired in December 2017 and that the MMS had sent a charter of demands "immediately thereafter.” Letters and reminders to the BPP to commence negotiations were ignored. Naterwalla also alleged that raincoats, shoes and other entitlements due to the workmen and staff due to be received in January (2018) were not provided.
In an email dated August 16, Dadrawala commiserated with the workers’ resolve to forgo the customary Navroz menu: "I am sorry to hear that some of the staff will be eating masoor dal and pav tomorrow. In solidarity, I have already asked my wife to serve me just that for lunch tomorrow.”