Chapter 7
STANVAC-ESSO
BEST PRACTICES
I devote this chapter to my work life in the Refinery. I am,
to this day, grateful to the Esso
Management and in particular the Refinery Management for imparting to me the
practical education, knowledge n skill which were to be my strengths in my
future progress.
As receptionist, my job was to respond to employment
applications as sorted out by Santosh Wadhwani. Response letters would be
signed by Madan Kamra. I would also receive candidates for recruitment, ‘make
them comfortable’ and check their
documents. Santosh would administer pre employment tests.
After the employment embargo most of the recruitment was to
very essential engineering staff. Santosh and I would take one good look at the
candidates gathered in the Reception Hall and arrive at gut feel as to who
among those would make the grade. Our judgment was quite uncanny though once in
a while a candidate would completely surprise us.
On the strength of my short-hand skill, I earned a promotion
to Steno Typist-cum-General Clerk and moved out of the Reception cabin to the
office upstairs. Santosh taught me many of the jobs I was to do later on. Among
them, sorting employment applications, reading through Labour Law Gazettes and Journals and making card
index of the relevant ones, administering n evaluating pre employment Tests.
The Refinery’s Employee Relations Management was exemplary.
The Relations Team comprised Graham Waugh, who moved out in 1955-56, BM Sitlani and Madan
Kamra. Alwyn D’Souza was also part of Madan’s Team. He was a direct recruit to
Management ranks. In the early years itself, the Management had started all the
institutions stipulated by law. That included a Works Committee with Management
and Employees’ representatives. Madan was the Secretary of that Committee. He
would write (dictate) the Minutes in English. Then a contractor will translate
them to Hindi. It was my job to proof read the Hindi version. Once printed, a
copy of English n Hindi versions was given to each employee…about 800 of them
at peak.
I have worked for many Manufacturing Organizations thereafter
but not one had a thriving bilateral Works Committee. Nor for that matter,
things like Formal Induction Procedure, or Formal and time bound Grievance
Redressal Procedure.
The Refinery Management was quite state of the art in all
disciplines. They were also very perspicacious in important matters. So much so that the Refinery was instrumental
in initiating adjudication proceedings which in course of time established land
mark Supreme Court Decisions and in fact Central Legislations. For example: The
law on Abolition of Contract Labour, and law on Payment of Bonus. The Refinery
had a Provident Fund and Gratuity Fund right from inception.
The Employee Relations Team was cognisant of the mischief
which two different Dearness Allowance Formulae were to cause in Mumbai’s
industrial Sectors. The Office staff had
a much higher and faster escalating Dearness Allowance as compared to
Industrial workers. Therefore, in successive Collective Bargaining Settlements,
they kept re-working the DA formulae to minimize the mischief. Greaves Cotton were to be the victim of the
Supreme Court Judgment enforcing common Formula i.e. the better of the two.
When I joined Crompton Greaves years later, my first assignment turned out to
be a hearing in Supreme Court protecting the Company from the remnant effects of
that Judgment. We won! Sadly, one of the organizations that I worked for
decades later refused to see the writing on the wall and paid a heavy price.
The negotiations for the earlier contracts were conducted
with the mediation of Shri Bhaskar L Shelke, then Conciliation Officer. It was
commentary of the times, and of the Man that Mr. Shelke would make trips to the
Refinery for these Conciliation sessions. In later years, the parties would
make numerous trips to the Labour Commissioner’s office for Conciliation. No
wonder Mr. Shelke rose to be the Commissioner of Labour of the (future)
Maharashtra State and I had much interaction with him on behalf of my future
employers.
Exposure to all these developments at close quarters, set
the foundation of my knowledge and understanding of Management especially
Employee Relations Management. This was to be the vehicle which was to carry me
to much growth n progress in later years.
But then I am moving ahead of my story:
In course of time Mr. Sitlani moved as Employee Relations
Manager at Esso India and Mr. J.D.Parekh
replaced him as Employee Relations Manager. By then the Refinery and Marketing
Organizations had come closer and there was movement of Management personnel to
and fro. Mr. Sitlani an, alumnus of Cornell University USA was a direct
appointee. He was a good communicator
and ‘modern’ methodical Manager. Jaydee on the other hand had been a long time
Company man and was a Regional ER Manager in the Marketing Organization. He was
an affable, kind-hearted man and had a hugely humane touch.
After some years as the Employee Relations Manager at HQO,
Sitlani opted for the position of Head of Sales and Marketing in Esso India and Mr. Nalin
Thakor was appointed in his pace. More of this in chapters yet to be.
To come back to my story, one day, a colleague in another
Division of our Department was promoted
to Senior Clerk. He was to be the first in that position in ER Dept. Without any
rancour or a particular motive, I conveyed to Madan, that at last we had a
Senior Clerk in the Department. Apparently he had not been taken into the loop.
He went marching up to Jaydee protesting about the unilateral decision. One
thing led to the other, and Madan came back to tell me that he had spoken to
Jaydee, who had assured him that ‘they’ had other (better) things in mind for
me.
The name of the O and Socony Mobil and operated in Africa, Asia and Australia.
Once the partnership broke up, the company underwent name change to Esso
Standard Eastern n then Esso Eastern. The transition from Flying Red Horse to
ESSO Oval was a major logistics and Public Relations campaign. Those interested
in the history of these Oil Companies in USA can look up the link below **
rganization saw several changes over the
years. Standard Vacuum (Stanvac) was a partnership of Standard Oil of New
Jersey
During these early years, Ramu and I continued to be very
close. I made friends with another colleague: Narain Makhija. We became family
friends and used to visit each other’s homes. We are still in touch with each
other. His wife died a few years ago. He is looked after by his daughter Kiran.
He has a son Lalit. I have fond memories of his mother and younger brother Arjun.
In 1957 I made another trip to Ludhiana to write the exam
for BA and passed with reasonably good grades.
Well…the story of my work-life at the Refinery continues next
week.
**
History of Stanvac..Esso
extract
As
the merger provided increased stability in the domestic market, Socony-Vacuum
set its sights on its foreign resources and joined with Standard Oil (New
Jersey) to form the Standard-Vacuum Oil Company, or Stanvac, in 1933. This
50/50 venture operated in nearly 50 countries, from Africa to the South
Pacific, until the assets were divided in 1962.
Jaydee Parekh
Group Pic: R-L Jaydee
Parekh, Prem n Suvarna Kamra (Madan’s siblings), Mr n Mrs Makhija with the baby
her arms, Santosh Wadhwani, Mrs. Prem Kamra n their daughter.
