KOCHI: The strike called by affiliated unions of headload workers in Mattancherry looks like it will continue, with the Kerala Headload Workers Welfare Board refusing to meet eye-to-eye with the unions regarding the disbursal of festival advance, owing to Ramzan. As a result, loading activities in export units here stood disrupted for the seventh consecutive day. Many exporters have already failed to fulfil their export commitments, resulting in huge monetary and business losses.
An emergency joint press meet organised by All India Spices Exporters Forum (AISEF) and other trade associations, including Cochin Chamber of Commerce and Indian Chamber of Commerce, urged the state government to intervene immediately and end the impasse. The headload workers were to receive an amount of `15,000 as festival advance from the Welfare Board. However, the board has not yet paid the advance to over 100 workers on the plea that average emoluments of these workers are low and their advance would be restricted to such amounts as shown in records.
The Welfare Board claimed that many workers adopted the illegal practice of demanding payment directly from the establishments they work in. Such wages do not reflect on the accounts of the Board.The export firms, for no fault of theirs, are bearing a majority of the brunt caused by the flash strike. Spices exporters are the worst-hit. Appalled, the industry now wants to know whether the government would immediately take the reins to end the crisis.
“This is a matter that should have been resolved between the Board and the workers, and should not have been allowed to escalate to a point affecting the country’s exports,” Rajeev Palicha, chairman of AISEF said. Trade organisations emphasised that flash strikes and retaliation have no place in the present day world economic order. Hence, holding the export industry and economy to a ransom and making them a soft target should be stopped immediately. The state government, in 2018, passed The Kerala Investment Promotion Facilitation Act, which in itself was a landmark step towards creating a better business environment.