The unions have urged Shashi Tharoor MP to urgently take up the problems faced by BATL employees with Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

Trade unions at BrahMos Aerospace Thiruvananthapuram Ltd (BATL) have accused holding company BrahMos Aerospace Pvt Ltd (BAPL) - the Indo-Russian missile JV - of showing scant interest in developing the Thiruvananthapuram unit.

The unions have urged Shashi Tharoor MP to urgently take up the problems faced by BATL employees with Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

BrahMos Staff Association (INTUC), BrahMos Employees’ Union (AITUC), BrahMos Aerospace Staff Union (CITU) and the BJP-backed BrahMos Aerospace Staff Federation have written to Tharoor alleging that BAPL is neither interested in the growth of the company nor the welfare of the employees.

The four unions have approached the local MP at a time when the INTUC, AITUC and CITU unions have threatened to strike work from Wednesday unless the BATL management announced a long-overdue wage revision.

The unions allege that BAPL - the holding company - has made no direct investment in BATL to date. 

Though ISRO invested Re. 25 crore for installing machinery, the funds promised by DRDO (Re. 25 crore for augmentation of plant and machinery and Re. 50 crore for missile integration complex), did not materialise in full, the unions, allege.

BATL was formed by taking over state government-run KELTEC for a token Re 1. 

However, the company has been mired in financial and labour problems. According to the employees, the wage revision should have been announced in January 2018.

The four unions have approached the local MP at a time when the INTUC, AITUC and CITU unions have threatened to strike work from Wednesday unless the BATL management announced a long-overdue wage revision.

Though ISRO invested Re. 25 crore for installing machinery, the funds promised by DRDO did not materialise in full, the unions, allege.