The strikers withdrew their protest in the wage hike
The strike was called off following an agreement reached in the wage hike talks held in the presence of Ministers MP Saminathan and Kayalvizhi.
There are 2 lakh 50 thousand turbines and 20 thousand tapeless turbines operating in Tirupur and Coimbatore districts. Through these, 2 crore meters of kata cloth worth Rs 100 crore is produced daily.
The industry directly and indirectly employs over 5 lakh people. In this situation, the textile manufacturers have not yet paid the wages that were raised in 2014. Due to this the power loom industry has been in severe crisis for the last 8 years.
On November 24 last year, in the presence of ministers and collectors at the Coimbatore Collector’s Office, a 23 per cent wage hike was announced for the Somanur variety and 20 per cent for the Palladam variety. But textile manufacturers did not implement the wage increase.
Condemning this and demanding an increase in contract wages, the key workers went on an indefinite strike from the 9th of last month. This affected the production of kata cloth to the tune of Rs 3500 crore. Workers also lost their jobs.
In this context, wage hike talks between weavers and textile manufacturers were held yesterday at the Amman Gallery in the Sultanpet area next to Mangalam in the presence of Information Minister MB Saminathan and Adithravidar Welfare Minister Kayalvizhi Selvaraj. It was decided to give a 15 per cent increase in wages for Palladam variety and 19 per cent for other varieties.
There was an agreement between the two parties. It was also decided to negotiate with the two sides to pay the remaining 5 per cent for the Palladam variety and 4 per cent for the other variety after 4 months as soon as the working conditions stabilize.
The talks were attended by power loom owners from Palladam, Mangalam, 63 Velampalayam, Kannampalayam and textile manufacturers from Palladam, Somanur, Avinashi and Tiruppur. The strike, which has been going on for 38 days, has been called off following an agreement reached on wage hikes. And the pay rise comes into effect from yesterday. Somanur Power Loom Association executives did not attend the talks.
Logeshwaran J
Read, The Gundam Festival at Masaniyamman Temple on ycourcoimbatore.com
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