CHENNAI: Ministers Thangam Thennarasu and R Gandhi on Thursday assured the Assembly that the state government is taking all necessary steps to resolve the ongoing powerloom weavers’ strike in Coimbatore and Tiruppur districts, stating the issue would be settled amicably soon.
Their assurance came in response to a special call attention motion raised by AIADMK general secretary and Leader of the Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami, who urged the government to intervene immediately to protect the livelihood of lakhs of workers affected by the strike.
Handlooms and Textiles Minister R Gandhi said efforts to mediate between the parties began well before the strike. “Officials from both districts initiated talks involving district collectors, labour and handloom departments,” he said. During the most recent talks, weavers demanded a 28% wage hike while manufacturers offered a 5% hike. Negotiations are ongoing, he added.
Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu intervened to reaffirm the government’s commitment. “The government is paying full attention to this issue. All necessary steps will be taken immediately to resolve it at the earliest,” Thennarasu said.
Palaniswami highlighted that over 1.5 lakh powerloom units operate in the two districts. The weavers, since January last year, have been trying to bring attention to the reduced wages despite a wage revision agreement in 2022, Palaniswami said. This culminated into an organised strike since March 19, demanding a fair wage hike due to the increased power tariffs, inflation, and rising costs of raw materials and spare parts.
He pointed out that 12 office-bearers of powerloom owners’ associations have been on an indefinite hunger strike in Somanur for six days. Despite submitting over 25 petitions to officials and ministers, no resolution has been reached so far, he noted.
Leaders from several other parties—including T Velmurugan (TVK), E R Eswaran (KDMK), M Chinnadurai (CPM), Vanathi Srinivasan (BJP), J G Prince (Congress), G K Mani (PMK), and T Ramachandran (CPI)—also urged the government to resolve the crisis swiftly.