The indefinite strike by thousands of executives of public sector oil companies from Tuesday till December 2, has been deferred by one week.

In a press release, Amit Kumar, President, Oil Sector Officers Association (OSOA), said an understanding had been reached between the association and the Union cabinet. He said that the association has received assurances from the central government that their demand for wage revision will be taken up for consideration by the Union Cabinet in this period.

“The Cabinet will meet on November 20 to take up the proposal for higher wages for PSU staff. In view of this, we have deferred the strike by one week,'' said Kumar.

On Monday, the Association made it clear that its 50,000 officers working in 14 oil PSUs would strike work from Tuesday, protesting non-revision of wages that was due from January, 2007. As per the recommendations of the Justice Rao Committee, the Association wants the government to approve higher wages for employees of all public sector units.

Earlier in the day, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora appealed to the officers to keep the wider national interest in mind. He said that economy would cripple completely if these companies decide to go on a strike.

“Petroleum Ministry and I for one have always supported that PSU employees should be paid wages to stop attrition. We have also recommended to the Department of Public Enterprise for the same. But it (sanctioning higher wages) is not in our hand. There i s a process and the process has to be followed,'' added Kumar.