Gorakhpur: The indefinite lockout of the historic Gita Press here has been withdrawn following the intervention of local administration, officials said today. The strike was called off yesterday by the employees. Gita Press had announced an indefinite lockout last Tuesday, after talks between its management and employees over wage issues failed.
“The issue between the management and employees will be settled on December 24 in a meeting with the labour department officials,” a senior officer said The workers at the 90-year-old publication had been demanding higher wages, medical benefits from the management, and had resorted to sloganeering and protests to press for their demands.
Presently 185 permanent and 300 contractual employees are working at the Gita Press. “The situation went out of hand in the last one month and with heavy hearts, we are closing down the press indefinitely,” its trustee Devi Dayal had said earlier.
The management of the press, which is publishing religious and other magazines and books since 1923, held talks over wage issues with employees which failed and resulted in responsible closure.
“The employees of the Press had resorted to dharna since December 3 and are not allowing others to work, affecting work. As employees are not ready after repeated request, Gita Press is being closed down”, a notice pasted on the gate of the press said earlier.
Earlier Deputy Labour Commissioner, R P Gupta had said that Gita Press management and employees were on collision course since 1992 over wages and others issues. There were a number of talks between both the sides but all of them failed, Gupta had said. Founded in 1923, Gita Press was one of the largest publishers of Hindu religious texts.
