Ensure piece-rate labourers also get bonus: Trade unions

Tirupur: Trade unions have urged knitware factories to provide annual bonus to all eligible labourers including the ones who receive wages as per the number of pieces of garments they produce or stitch.

Except a few garment manufacturing factories, most of the other companies have been violating the Payment of Bonus (Amendment) Act, 2015 in this front every year, charged the trade unions while demanding the companies to disburse the bonus immediately since Deepavali festival is only two weeks away. "As per the payment of bonus Act, the companies should pay a minimum 8.33% of the labourers' monthly salaries. Nowadays, a major part of the labourers working in the garment manufacturing factories have opted to receive weekly wages as per the number of pieces of garment they stitch or iron or other works, rather than the working shifts. The companies also are accepting it because they need not worry about providing benefits like employee's state insurance, provident fund, and gratuity," said general secretary of CITU G Sampath.

"The companies have made it a norm not to pay the annual bonus to those piece-rate employees. Many companies claim that such employees would only work in multiple companies and also receive the bonus in advance, by charging at least 10% higher rate per piece. But, it is a clear violation of the Act, which states that the companies should pay the bonus annually based on the profit they make," said general secretary of the Banian Factories Labour Union N Sekar.

Underlining that a few companies are ready to provide the bonus even up to 30% and they are likely to pay 10 days before the festival, Sampath said the others have even not started discussions about the bonus with the respective labour unions or labourers yet. As per the Act, the annual bonus should be given within six months after the closing of a financial year.

"Since most of the labourers are from other districts or from other States, the companies would pay the bonus only in last minute, so that the labourers would not question the managements if the right per cent of bonus is not provided," pointed out Sekar.