A lightning sit-in protest staged by employees of a private apparel manufacturing unit in front of the Collector's chamber created some tense moments on the Collectorate premises here on Monday.
The agitators said that about 150 employees of the firm were not paid salaries and perks for the past four months.
Many of them were reported to be working in the company, which is located along Tirupur-Kangeyam road, since it started in 2004.
“The company owners suddenly locked the unit on October 18 though they had promised us a few days earlier that all the dues will be settled on October 20 and Deepavali bonus paid on time,” Raj Kumar, one of the aggrieved employees, told reporters.
According to the employees, the house of the owners situated at Sheriff Colony too is locked.
Talks held
They said that the protest was necessitated as no action had been taken by the authorities concerned on their petitions submitted on Saturday to the District Collector, Labour Officer and Superintendent of Police highlighting their grievances. As the situation turned tense, police officials held talks with the employees and assured them that steps would be taken to trace the owners of the company and get their dues settled.
