Eight women workers of a garments export company, Chelsea Mills in Udyog Vihar Phase-IV here, have filed a complaint before the Labour Department against the management for “terminating” them without assigning any reason and also not paying their legal dues.
The women also staged a demonstration outside the company this past week seeking reinstatement.
The workers, in a complaint to the department, alleged that the management “terminated” them when the company, Chelsea Mills, reopened after the COVID-19-induced lockdown, without any reason, notice and charge.
The women claimed that they had been working with the company for the past several years and completed the mandatory 240 days of service over the past 12 months before being terminated. They said that the company had not paid them notice period compensation, retrenchment compensation, bonus and gratuity, thereby causing them serious financial hardship.
Garment and Allied Workers Union general-secretary Amarnath Sharma said the garments companies in the area had been terminating old workers, citing lack of work due to the lockdown, but they are hiring new workers at lower wages.
Deputy Labour Commissioner, Gurugram, Ramesh Ahuja, said the company had been maintaining that the women were not terminated, but were not being called to work as the production had gone down. “Since the company maintained that the workers were not terminated and also not laid off, they are entitled to complete wages. We have written to the Labour Secretary in this connection, saying that the conduct of the company falls under the category of unfair labour practices under the Industrial Disputes Act. The workers have also filed a complaint before the Additional Labour Commissioner, seeking reinstatement and the matter is under consideration,” said Mr. Ahuja.
