NTC workers protest delay in reopening mills

Coimbatore: Workers of the National Textile Corporation (NTC) mill staged a protest in front of its headquarters at Kattoor in the city on Tuesday, demanding the mill management to reopen its units in the district at the earliest.
M Anand Kumar, district vice-president, Centre of Indian Trade Unions, said, “While almost all industries and companies have resumed operations as usual after the government relaxed the lockdown norms, NTC mills are yet to be reopened. The mill management has been citing the pandemic as a reason for not reopening the mill.” There are seven NTC mills in the state. The mill in the district employs more than 5,000 workers.
He said while the NTC has been disbursing half the salary to the salaried employees, daily wage workers have been forced to take up odd jobs, as they were not paid anything. “They were earning anywhere between Rs 400 and Rs 450 a day.”
The workers withdrew the protest after police intervened. The management has, meanwhile, decided to hold talks with the protesters in a few days. tnn