The 35-day strike by job working powerloom unit owners in Coimbatore and Tirupur Districts was called off here on Monday following a conciliatory agreement reached on wage increase for these units.
Coimbatore District Collector M. Karunakaran and Tirupur Collector M. Mathivanan held talks here on Monday with the job working unit owners from Tirupur, Palladam, Somanur and Avinashi and the powerloom cloth manufacturers from these places. The officials told presspersons after the talks that the manufacturers and the job working units have agreed for 39 per cent increase in wages for other varieties and 41 per cent increase in wages for the Somanur variety of fabric.
The earlier agreement was signed in 2008 and expired in July this year. The powerloom cloth manufacturers had then agreed for 32 per cent increase in wages for Somanur variety fabric and 27 per cent increase for other varieties. With cost of all the inputs increasing manifold, the job working unit owners demanded 100 per cent increase in wages paid to them by the powerloom cloth manufacturers. Several rounds of talks were held during the last two months and the job working unit owners were also on a fast in the two districts from September 23.
Mr. Karunakaran said the talks were held with the permission of the State Election Commission. The new wages would come into effect immediately. Though the wage agreement for the powerloom job working units was usually a three-year agreement, it would be reviewed if there was any problem. Following the agreement, the job working units announced withdrawal of the strike and fast.
Sources in the job working units said nearly two lakh powerlooms in 25,000 units in the two districts had stopped production during the last 35 days, demanding higher wages.
Following the agreement, the job working units agreed on Monday to give a similar increase in wages to their workers. The State Government should constitute a powerloom development corporation as in the case of Karnataka to find a permanent solution to the wage problem, they said.
