Textile workers to go on strike from Aug. 20

By M. Soundariya Preetha

COIMBATORE, AUG. 11. The Joint Action Council of Textile Mill Workers' Unions, representing over two lakh workers in the State, have decided to go on an indefinite strike from August 20 following failure of wage talks. ``We are however keeping our doors open even for a 11th hour talks'', the unions told The Hindu. The parleys were held in the presence of the Labour Commissioner in Chennai on August 8.

The mill-level meetings would conclude by August 18 and picketing would be held daily in front of the Southern India Mills Association (SIMA) here and the Collectorates from August 28.

As the SIMA has closed its doors on any negotiation on the wage settlement asserting that it does not have a mandate from its members for collective bargaining, the ball is in the unions' court. The unions went on strike in 1979 and again in 1984 for a wage settlement. Since then wage settlements have been regular and the 1993 agreement was signed between a group of mills and the unions which the other mills followed.

According to union sources, since the expiry of the accord in 1998, there has been no wage settlement at the individual mill level though there are agreements based on productivity. Even in a handful of mills where there is a new agreement, it is based on a 30-point charter of the unions.

``A wage increase is impossible'', claim the managements. While the unions are mounting pressure for a wage agreement, the managements are trying to grapple with various other issues confronting them. The SIMA has called an emergency meeting of its members for August 23 to discuss a huge tax evasion and the excise duty levied on yarn. A South India Small Spinners Association (SISSPA) meeting today decided to pressure the Government for a package to bail out the textile sector.

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