The Tata Steel management and the Tata Workers' Union signed a bonus agreement for 2008-09 today. The total payout on account of annual bonus for Jamshedpur employees will be Rs 81 crore.



At a 18.5 per cent bonus on pay for 2008-09, the minimum and maximum annual bonus payable will be Rs 21,486 and Rs 1,00,845, respectively. Nearly 16,500 employees would be paid annual bonus this year. An ex-gratia amount will also be paid for the arrears.



The agreement was signed by B Muthuraman, managing director, and H M Nerurkar, executive director (India & South East Asia) and other senior officials of the company, with Raghunath Pandey, president, Tata Workers' Union, in the presence of the Deputy Labour Commissioner, Jamshedpur.



A company statement said most employees draw wages higher than the limit laid down in the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965, and were not legally eligible for bonus. But the company would go by tradition and pay.