Protests were held by the CITU Mill Workers demanding the payment of pending salary for the month of April to the NTC Cotton Mill workers. They also demanded the reopening of the NTC mills and protested in front its head office.
Coimbatore: Protests were held by the CITU Mill Workers demanding the payment of pending salary for the month of April to the NTC Cotton Mill workers. They also demanded the reopening of the NTC mills and protested in front of its head office NTC.
Out of the seven NTC Mills operated by the Central Government in TN, five function in Coimbatore. More than 1,000 permanent and contract workers are employed here. The COVID-19 lockdown had caused the mills to be closed down for the past two months.
While the Central government had advised private organisations to either not cut down on the salary and or manpower during the lockdown, it has not paid the salary to the NTC workers for the month of April. Further, no announcement regarding the reopening of the mills has been made yet.
The trade unions had warned of an agitation if the situation remains the same. Under these circumstances, the CITU workers gathered in front of the head office of the NTC Cotton Mills in Kattoor and staged a protest. CITU Mills Association General Secretary, C. Padmanabhan, and LPF Cotton Mill Association President, Parthasarathy, engaged in talks with the management.
During the talks, the management informed that the salary arrears will be settled in a few days and operations will commence after the end of the lockdown when yarn comes in for trading in the market. Since the cotton mills are in a critical condition, the decision will have to be made by the Central Government, they said.
Speaking about this, C. Padmanabhan said, "The management has assured that the pending pay will be settled immediately. The case regarding the re-opening of the mills will be brought to the attention of the MP's and plans are being made to meet the Central Textile Minister as well."