GRATITUDE - Tribute to those who helped me in my career and life - Chapter 7

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

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/utcah/00352/cah-00352.html

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.