Three months on, spinning mills are still silent

NTC mills employees’ salaries were progressively cut and June’s wages are yet to be paid

The Vijayamohini Mills in Thiruvananthapuram which has remained closed since March.

The 23 spinning mills of the National Textile Corporation, under the Union Textile Ministry, have remained closed since March, despite the Centre granting permission for factories and industries to open in May. This includes the five spinning mills in Kerala — Vijayamohini Mills in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala Lekshmi Mill and Alagappa Textiles in Thrissur, and the CS&W Mills in Kannur and Mahe.

The salaries of the more than 7,000 employees countrywide have not been paid in June, after progressive salary cuts since March. The large pile of unsold yarn stock is being pointed out as a reason for the mills remaining closed. Employees’ unions convened an online conference on Sunday to decide on protests.

Many of these mills which began under private ownership in the 19th or early 20th century, were brought under the public sector in the early 1970s. The Vijayamohini Mills, which was taken over in 1973, now has 450 workers under the permanent and casual categories. Around 150 casual workers from this mill alone lost their jobs much before the lockdown.

Post the lockdown, the salary was first cut by 25%, by 40% the next month and by 60% in May. According to the union leaders, an employee of the Mahe mill committed suicide on June 15.

‘Machinery loss’

“The usual response of the management is that there are no sales and that no funds are coming from the Centre. Every year, close to ₹40 lakh is paid as taxes by Vijayamohini Mills alone, but the NTC has been working without any economic aid from the Central government. The spinning mills owned by the State governments have resumed operations. If the mills remain closed for a few more months, we can expect a loss of crores worth in machineries,” says M.T. Antony, decretary of the Trivandrum Textile Workers’ Union, affiliated to the CITU.

According to Pradeep, Manager of Vijayamohini Mills, there has been no movement of yarn in Mumbai, which is the main market for the produce of mills in the State.

“As long as the yarn movement in the Mumbai market does not pick up, we cannot start production,” he says.

Solutions suggested

Some of the suggestions from trade unions to cut costs include procurement of raw materials from the Cotton Corporation of India, a Central public sector enterprise, which can supply cotton at a discount. Yarn produced by NTC mills can be exempted from GST or given a reduction in the percentage of GST. Strict control should be kept on the import of yarn and cloth materials, and indigenously made products of NTC should be promoted instead, say the unions. The unions see a ploy to push the textile corporation into a loss-making enterprise and privatise it.