Chennai, Oct 9 Permanent and contract workers of mining-cum-power generation company Neyveli Lignite Corp (NLC) resumed duty Thursday night after concluding a bonus agreement with the management.

"The talks between the management and the unions ended amicably late last night. As per the new agreement, workers will be paid a maximum bonus of Rs. 51,000, up by Rs. 30,000 from the earlier settlement," P. Babu Rao, director (personnel) of NLC, told IANS from Neyveli on phone.

The workers had struck work Wednesday night, demanding an immediate finalisation of the bonus agreement.

They had demanded a maximum bonus of Rs. 60,000.

According to Rao, the new agreement would cost the company around Rs. 174 crore this year as it has to pay arrears from Jan 1, 2007. The earlier bonus settlement had ended Dec 31, 2006.

"The current settlement is valid for five years and will be effective January 1, 2007. The additional annual outgo for the company will be around Rs. 70 crore."

NLC employees are classified into three categories - direct workers (those directly connected to mining and power production) and semi direct and indirect workers.

"The maximum bonus of Rs. 51,000 is for the direct workers. Semi and indirect workers will get anything between 40-70 percent of that," Rao said.

The contract workers will be paid one months wage as bonus plus Rs. 500 as ex-gratia, he added. (IANS)