Oil Sector Officers' Association, a body that claims to represent officers in all the 14 oil PSUs, said pay revision was needed to arrest attrition.

Wage revision in the state-run companies had been pending for long, the Association said, and added that a Committee of Secretaries had approved higher scales based on the recommendation of Justice Rao Committee, but the proposal had still not been placed before the Cabinet for approval.

"The government is indulging in policies that are crippling the efficiency of oil PSUs and titling the balance in favour of private sector," OSOA said in a press statement.

While the Petroleum Ministry had been sympathetic to the demands, as it recognised the need of the employees, who should be paid more to retain talent, the matter was stuck up with the Department of Public Enterprises, the nodal agency for such decisions for PSUs, the statement said.

OSOA wants open-ended pay scales, removal of 50 per cent ceiling on perks and allowances, five-year periodicity of wage revision and demands that were recommended by the Oil Ministry for approval to the DPE last month.

Officers in companies such as Indian Oil [Get Quote], Oil and Natural Gas Corp, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum would strike work from 0600 hrs on November 18 if the demands were not met by then, OSOA said.

"All the oil PSUs have been hit by high rate of attrition mainly due to low compensation package as compared to private players," OSOA said.