Date:13/10/2006 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/10/13/stories/2006101300671900.htm

Back Textile units in TN work out bonus accords

G. Gurumurthy

Coimbatore , Oct. 12

Most textile units in Coimbatore and neighbouring Erode district have worked out agreements with their unions on payment of bonus for 2005-06.

According to trade union sources, in the bonus parleys held over the past week, some 100 textile mills - a mix of both big and small - have hammered out settlements.

Some of these units have already begun to disburse payments to their workers, the sources said.

Mr Jagannathan, General Secretary of the AITUC-affiliated Coimbatore District Textile Mill Workers Union and leader of the joint action council of the textile trade unions, said that a majority of the textile units in the region would be paying a higher bonus this year ranging from a minimum of one per cent to six per cent more than last year in view of the improved profitability of mills across the industry.

The minimum bonus this year is likely to be 10 per cent in most mills; the maximum payment announced so far has been 26 per cent.

Some of the units that remained sick till a year back have announced 10 per cent bonus, the unions said.

With fortunes improving, a few group mills have also entered into long-term bonus accords with their workmen.

The JAC of the unions have urged the textile mills in the region to complete the bonus settlement by October 15 and has warned that it would be forced to launch direct action in units that failed to do so.

It is said that over 50,000 textile workers would benefit from the bonus accords reached so far.