The Communist Party of India (Marxist), urged the State Government to take effective steps for settling the power loom workers’ wage revision dispute amicably.
The power loom was a major industry in Namakkal district involving a large number of workforce. The wage accord is finalised once in two years in Pallipalayam and Komarapalayam, the two major power loom weaving centres.
The previous two-year wage accord for the Pallipalayam workers expired on February 28 and for the Komarapalayam workers on March 31.
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The workers’ unions have already submitted petitions seeking 75 per cent wage increase.
As the issue could not be settled through talks so far, the Pallipalayam workers have given strike notice and the Komarapalayam workers are already on strike. The strike has led to loss of production and economic crisis in the industry. The striking workers, too, were suffering from severe strain due to loss of wages, a resolution adopted at the Namakkal district committee meeting of the party held here recently said.
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For protecting the interest of the workers and ensure industrial peace, the State Labour Department should effectively intervene and settle the issue amicably, the resolution said.
The meeting decided to hold a people’s connect programme to highlight the anti-people’s policies pursued by both the Central and the State Governments and also to urge the Central Government to withdraw the recently introduced Land Acquisition Bill.
Committees
The district unit will form 160 committees, which will conduct special campaigns on the above issues across the district for a week.
K. Thangamani, district executive committee member of the party, presided over the meeting. N. Srinivasan, CPI (M) State Committee member, and A. Rangasamy, district secretary of the party, spoke.