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Tamil Nadu
Powerloom strike continues
| We hope to arrive at a settlement on Monday: Minister |
SOLUTION NOT IN SIGHT: Rural Industries and Animal Husbandry Minister Pongalur N. Palanisamy (left) and Collector V. Palanikumar holding talks with representatives of the Coimbatore District Job Working Powerloom Unit Owners’ Association in Coimbatore on Sunday.
COIMBATORE: Even as the strike announced by job working powerloom units in Coimbatore district continued for the second day, Minister for Rural Industries and Animal Husbandry Pongalur N. Palanisamy and District Collector V. Palanikumar held talks with representatives of the associations of the textile manufacturers, owners of the job working powerloom units and the labour unions here on Sunday to resolve the wage issue.
No solution, however, emerged at the talks. “Talks will continue on Monday since some of the representatives of these associations were not in town and were hence unable to attend the meeting. We hope to arrive at a settlement on Monday,” the Minister told presspersons.
The district has about two lakh powerlooms and employs an equal number of workers directly. These units take up job orders from about 500 textile manufacturers. The units produced about 75 metres of cloth a day on one loom and the average cost was Rs. 15 a metre. Thus, if all the units went on strike, the average production loss would be about Rs. 22 crore a day, according to P. Kumarasamy, secretary of the Coimbatore District Job Working Powerloom Unit Owners’ Association. The Minister said powerloom was an important sector in the district and currently the textile industry was facing several problems. In the previous settlements, the job workers were given about 20 per cent increase (on an average).
The union representatives said they sought 50 per cent increase in the wages from the current level for the workers employed in these units.
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