Leaders of eight trade unions staged a protest in front of the southern region office of National Textile Corporation (NTC) here on Tuesday.
According to former MLA M. Arumugam of AITUC, the workers had staged protests in front of the mills demanding re-opening of the NTC mills and payment of full wages to workers for the period when the mills remained closed. NTC runs seven textile mills in the State and five of these are located in Coimbatore district. The NTC mills in the State employ nearly 6,000 workers. Of these, 3800 are permanent workers.
Mr. Arumugam said the workers were paid full wages till May 17. After that, they received only part wages. However, they are yet to get the wages that should have been paid in September.
“Coimbatore MP PR Natarajan had written to the Central Government about the plight of the NTC workers. The Textile Minister has said that the financial condition of the mills should improve and the workers will be paid full wages after that,” he said.
The trade unions had planned a series of protests demanding re-opening of the mills. The union leaders, two from each of the eight unions, planned a sit in protest at the south region office for three days from Tuesday. However, the police said they cannot enter the office premises. Hence, they staged a protest in front of the southern region office on Tuesday. “The regional labour commissioner has called us for a virtual meeting on October 17. If there is no agreement on that day, the union leaders will decide on the future course of action,” he said.