TIRUPPUR : A group of 98 people who worked at a private mill in Udumalaipet will be getting compensation after a long wait of 20 years after a Madras High Court directive. Each worker will be receiving around Rs 55,000 to Rs 60,000 as compensation.
Speaking to TNIE, R Venkatesh (57) one of the mill workers, said, “I joined the private cotton mill in 1986 as an apprentice. I was offered a payment of Rs 8 per day. After confirmation in 1990, I got a monthly payment of Rs 2,700. I was happy as the mill was the second-largest spinning mill in the composite Coimbatore district. There were more than 2,000 workers in the facility. However, at the end of the 1990s, the mill faced financial issues and started laying off people. As the situation got worse by 2003, the management announced its closure. At that time I was receiving a salary of Rs 5,400. Around 608 workers lost their jobs, of which 520 were seniors. They got provident fund and gratuity settlement. But when the rest of the 98 workers demanded compensation, the management refused it.”
Padmanaban (65), another worker, said, “I joined as an apprentice in 1978 and was offered a salary of Rs 2 per day. After job confirmation in 1980, I started receiving a salary of Rs 688 per month. When the mill was closed, I was 42 and I had just a little money in the provident fund and for gratuity. So, we sought compensation but the management was not prepared to offer it. Though we protested a lot of times, they were not ready to compensate us. Hence, we sought help through a labour union.”
Elaborating on the case, Kovai Periyar Mavatta Dravida Panchalai Thozhilalar Munnetra Sangam, general secretary Su Duraisamy said, “As the management was unwilling, we filed a case in the Labour Court in 2003 and when the court found that suspension of operation was nothing but a case of a layoff, which required prior permission, the management termed that the suspension of operation is covered under the definition of lockout. The court dismissed their views in 2008 and ordered them to provide compensation for six months and 10 days for each worker. However, instead of paying the compensation, they went for an appeal in the Madras High Court. They argued that all orders from the labour court should be set aside as it was unsustainable”.
However, the Madras High Court judge dismissed all the statements of the management counsel and confirmed the judgement of the labour court as final and ordered that as per salary structure, each worker should be provided a compensation of either Rs 55,000 or Rs 60,000.
The Madras High Court pronounced its final order in October 2023 and the order copies were served to workers on February 29 2024, the union leader explained.
“We will be sending the final order to the mill on Friday,” Duraisamy added.