Coimbatore: More than 400 small-scale foundries in the district downed their shutters indefinitely on Wednesday to condemn the central and state governments for their inaction in controlling the spiraling prices of raw materials.
The shutdown would affect lakhs of workers who are working in and with foundries and other industries including pumps, textile machinery, automobiles and other engineering industries.
“The price of raw materials has increased up to 30% since November. When about 80% of our investment is required to procure raw materials, it is impossible to continue doing business mainly for the small-scale industries who had been working with minimal profit margin. Even though half of our customers have agreed to revise the price, we decided to continue the strike. We want to gain the attention of both the state and central governments who remain silent despite escalating the issue multiple times,” president of Coimbatore Tiny and Small Foundry Owners Association (Cosmafan) A Sivashanmuga Kumar said.
About two to three lakh workers who are working in the foundries and those who are working indirectly for the foundries like transportation of materials will be affected severely. “Most of our workers are from northern parts of the country and we had already provided accommodation to them. Now, we have made arrangements to distribute food items including vegetables and ration products to them as it is impossible for us to provide them their wages without any production,” he added. Per day production of the foundries is 800 to 1,000 tonnes.
Once the issues are resolved, our workload is going to be high mainly because of the backlog and the workers would get work regularly, he said. Wages were revised to Rs 450 by 25% following the lockdown period. However, the condition of contract workers who contribute to 30% of the workforce, is uncertain.
One of the most affected industries because of the strike is pump set industry. “We are completely dependent on foundries for casting. We would be affected if they increase the price of spare parts and stop their production,” president of Kovai Power Driven Pumps and Spares Manufacturers Association (KOPMA) K Maniraj said.
Pointing out that their stocked spare parts will last for another 10 days, he said that they will end up stopping their production if the foundries do not resume their production within a week. “If they increase the cost of their products on par with the price of raw materials, then we will have to increase the price of raw materials by 25%,” he added.
In support of foundries, Coimbatore, Tirupur Districts Micro and Cottage Entrepreneurs Association and their allies stopped their production on Wednesday. “Close to 10,000 units including 5,000 units of our members have stopped their production and the revenue loss is estimated to be Rs 15 crores per day. As about 90% of us are doing job works for big companies, their production will be delayed by the strike,” president of the association C Sivakumar said.