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CHENNAI, July 29

THE Tamil Nadu Joint Action Council of Textile Trade Unions submitted a clutch of petitions to the State Government urging action to improve the working conditions, implementation of the interim relief and the reopening of closed mills.

The Joint Action Council including representatives from Central Trade Unions and those affiliated to political parties took out a procession in Chennai on Monday before presenting the petitions.

The Joint Action Council urged the Government to ensure that the cotton mills paid fair wages and implemented the provisions of the Employees' State Insurance, and Provident Fund schemes and grant maternity leave.

Some of the mills have not regularised their employees, who continue to work on contract on daily wage basis. The working conditions of the women employees are also a cause for concern, they said.

While the earlier long-term wage settlement relating to three lakh workers in the 2,000 small, medium and large mills in the State had ended on December 31, 1998, the mills represented by South India Mills Association, and the associations in Dindigul and Madurai were against any conciliation for a new wage settlement, according to the council.

The Government had announced an interim relief on September 13, 2001, to be granted for a six-month period with effect from September 1, 2001.

However, many of the mills had not conformed to the Government order.

Some of the mills had taken the issue to Court and even the mills that had not resorted to legal proceedings had not paid the interim relief, the council alleged in a petition.

Meanwhile, the Government had ordered an inquiry into the issue of wage settlement covering the 1,692 mills in the State. However, many mills in various districts have been left out of the list covering the inquiry. Therefore, the list of mills submitted by the Council may also be included in the inquiry, the petitioners urged.

They called up on the Government to intervene on behalf of the 35,000 workers rendered jobless following the closure of many spinning mills.

The trade unions also urged the State Government to constitute separate labour court inquiry into the workers' demand for leave travel allowance, casual leave, medical facilities and the constitution of a monitoring committee including representatives from the central trade unions and mill unions to oversee the working of the mills.

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