Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore   

Coimbatore needs workers; where will it find them?

M. Soundariya Preetha

Manufacturing sector here hit by manpower shortage

COIMBATORE: Ramachandran, a small-scale foundry owner here, visits Theni and Cumbum at least once in three months, spending at least Rs. 5,000 a trip, scouting for workers for his unit. Though he is ready to pay Rs. 90 a day for a helper (apart from free accommodation and cooking facilities), he is unable to find workers who will stay on in the unit for at least a year.

With many like him struggling to find workforce, Coimbatore - with labour intensive industries - is hit by manpower shortage.

Buses and vans roll out to the rural parts of the district every morning to get workers for the textile and garment units; people from the villages of Bihar and Orissa are part of the workforce in the foundries here; and wages are up in almost all segments. Yet, labour shortage looms as an "every day problem" in many units.

The shortage of technical workers in foundries is 30 per cent to 40 per cent and of semi-skilled people is about 20 per cent. Almost all foundries here have doubled capacity in the last two to three years and "we are not finding people to work in these units," says C.R. Swaminthan, Chief Executive of the PSG Institutions. Of the total workforce of about 40,000 in the foundries here at least 2,000 are from the other states and "this will go up further." He appealed to the Government to allow industry representation in the management council of the Government-run ITIs so that the industry can give the inputs on the present-day needs. "These institutes are now isolated islands" and the industry should be able to adopt the institutes so that the students find employment immediately after completing the course. The problem started in the textile mills three years ago because of "phenomenal growth" in the industry. Investments have doubled and one of the main input is labour. "The growth of human resource has not been in proportion with the growth of the industry," says the chairman of the Southern India Mills' Association, S. V. Arumugam.

He points out that the industry envisages an investment of Rs. 1.4 lakh crore by 2010 and Tamil Nadu has the potential to attract one-third of it and generate 40 lakh new jobs (directly and indirectly). "Do we have people for this?" he asks.

The mills have workers staying on the mill premises and also those coming from the nearby villages. Further, the units have gone in for automation in areas such as contamination deduction and cotton feeding. Yet, there are instances where production has been affected due to worker shortage, he adds. "Shortage of hands has led to utilisation coming down."

The units have to focus more on manpower management. And, Government should allow flexible working hours as an option in the mills. More women are expected to take up jobs in the textile units and the Government should encourage it with special schemes, he suggests.

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