The Hindu Business Line : Bonus parleys in textile mills in low key

The drastically scaled down working of bigger textile units in and around Coimbatore and the resultant drop in the number of permanent workers have deprived the workers' unions of theenthusiasm they used to display on bonus negotiations .

Yet, a number of textile mill managements have, in the last few days, initiated negotiations for finalising the payment of bonus for the year 2003-04 and these talks, according to trade union sources, are being conducted at individual mill level with the participation by unit-level workers' leaders.

Though theparleys are yet to gain momentum, managements of at least eight large textile mills in the district have concluded bonus accord in the last two days and talks are on, in at least another 10 or so mills, leaders of different trade union affiliates said.

The trend of the accord, so far seen in terms of the quantum of bonus agreed to, this time points to a `notch' below than what was paid by these mills during last year and in a few cases only the managements opted to pay a little more than what they paid last year, said Mr A. Subramaniam, leader of the Hind Musdoor Sabhah, which is a major constituent in the joint action committee of central textile trade unions.

"There is nothing big to talk about the bonus parleys considering the fact that many big textile mills in Coimbatore have either closed down their units or reduced their scale of operation," said Mr Subramaniam, who feels that if at all there is any possibility for a strife over bonus this time, it should happen only in the small and medium-scale units.Some trade union leaders, affiliated to other national workers' outfits, conceded that given the sombre mood among the textile workers in the region, who are witness to shrinking employment, majority of workers and managements prefer to settle bonus without giving room for confrontation.

NTC accord in TN, Pondy: The National Textile Corporation (NTC) management has concluded an accord for payment of bonus to its workers employed in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry units.

The accord envisages payment of 8.33 per cent bonus for the employees eligible for bonus payment and an ex gratia amount of Rs 2,500 each for those who will not be eligible for bonus as per the Bonus Act. The bonus payment would be as per the Act and thus the management would take into account both the eligibility monthly wage ceiling of Rs 3,500 as well as the bonus computation ceiling of Rs 2,500.

In addition to the bonus or the ex gratia, the NTC has also decided to give a recoverable festival advance of Rs 2,000 each for the workers/employees.

According to NTC sources, the payment of bonus/ex gratia and also the cash advance would be disbursed to the workers of nine NTC units under the Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry subsidiaries by October 31 and the total payout involved would be Rs 2.5 crore.

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