Coimbatore: Operation in seven textile mills in the state was hit for the fifth day as strike by National Textile Corporation (NTC) mill workers continued demanding revision of wages on Friday. The revised wage agreement for 3,000 mill workers in the state had expired in May.
The workers demand immediate revision of wages, but the mill managements say they would hold talks with the senior management on August 30 when they visit Coimbatore.
NTC has five textile mills in Coimbatore city – Coimbatore Spinning and Weaving Mill, Sree Murugan Textiles, Cambodia Mill, Sree Ranga Vilas Ttextiles and Pankaja Mill. It also runs Pionner Mill at Ramanathapuram district and Kaleeswara Mill at Sivaganga district. About 3,000 workers, including 1,800 permanent and 1,200 workers under agreement are working in the seven mills.
The wages were revised once in five years. The last revision happened in 2013 and the revision date was completed in May 2018. About 3,000 workers approached the NTC management to implement the revised wages for them from June 2018. But the management did not take any steps. The workers were the members of four labour associations including CITC and INTUC. The associations demanded the management to revise the salary for the workers from June. But no action was taken on the demands and the association announced indefinite strikes across the seven textile mills in the state from August 20. The mill workers boycotted their work and participated in the strike.
NTC officials held a talk with the trade unions on Thursday. But the meeting did not yield any result. Trade unions demanded at least 30% wage hike.
Trade unions and NTC officials have decided to conduct a second round of talks before August 30.
