The Hindu Business Line : Coimbatore textile workers to get higher bonus, earlier

TEXTILE mill workers in Coimbatore and neighbouring Erode district stand to get a higher quantum of bonus for this Deepavali, thanks to recovery in the fortunes of the textile sector.

What is more, most of the mill managements falling under the organised industry scale are keen to settle the bonus issue well in time this year, unlike earlier when the issue was allowed to stalemate after contentious negotiations with their workmen unions.

The textile trade unions sources said that over 12 large textile mill managements in the region have already reached settlement with their workmen unions on payment of bonus for 2004-05 and some of them have even announced the dates for payment disbursal.

Indications are that workers in most of these units would receive payment between October 20-28. The quantum of bonus to be paid by them for 2004-05 would be higher compared to the previous year.

Among the noted major textile mills that have entered into the bonus accord so far are Lakshmi Mills Company (10 per cent as against 9 per cent last year - for all its three units), Tirupur Textile Mills (for three units) whose workers would receive 15 per cent (against last year's 13.85 per cent), 12 per cent (10.75 per cent) and 22.50 per cent (21.25 per cent) respectively, Narendraraja Textiles - 14.5 per cent

(10.33 per cent) and Vishnu Lakshmi Mills -10.75 per cent (9.33 per cent).

"The bonus settlement arrived at this year so far has given the trend of the mill managements offering a higher bonus that showed an increase ranging from one percentage point to seven per cent. The mills are able to offer higher quantum due to turn around recorded in their workings in the last one year," said Mr A. Subramanian, leader of Hind Mazdoor Sabha and a key functionary of the eight-union joint action committee (JAC) of textile workers unions.

Though the JAC has put up a joint demand for a minimum bonus of 15 per cent and a maximum 30 per cent, the current round of settlements arrived in the past one week has given a signal to the workers that the managements have by and large accommodated the unit level workers aspiration of securing a higher quantum of bonus over the last year levels.

"Mills in the organised sector are keen to reach settlement on bonus at the earliest which is a welcome sign seen this year by the workers and their trade unions in the region after nearly seven years as the bonus issue became contentious one with the drooping of the fortunes of the textile industry since 1999-2000," said Mr K. Jagannathan, leader of the AITUC-affiliated Coimbatore Mill Workers Union and Secretary of the district-level JAC.

The JAC leaders feel that though the bonus rate might have been hiked by the mills, their net bonus commitment to workmen would, however, be lower due to increased number of contract workforce engaged by the mills in the region.

Out of an estimated 1.5-lakh mill workers employed in the units in the two districts, the strength of permanent workers would be only around one-third of this figure.

But the positive development for the textile mill workers this year, according to these leaders, will be that the mills in the region have begun showing surplus funds.

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