COIMBATORE: Power loom weavers from Coimbatore and Tiruppur districts have called off their 33-day-long strike following a stakeholders’ meeting chaired by ministers MP Saminathan, V Senthil Balaji, and Kayalvizhi Selvaraj in Coimbatore on Sunday. As per the agreement reached during the talks, master weavers will hike the wages of weavers in Somanur by 15%, and in Palladam by 10%.
Addressing the press in the presence of ministers, officials and master weavers, president of Coimbatore, Tiruppur Powerloom Weavers Association SE Boopathy said the hunger strike was called off with immediate effect.
“We will start production after a discussion with our members in the general body meeting, which would be conducted on Monday,” Boopathy said, adding that a production loss of around Rs 1,000 crore had been incurred due to the month-long strike. It should be noted that over 2.5 lakh power looms are being operated in Tiruppur and Coimbatore districts. Master weavers, who provide job orders, have been hiking the wages of power loom weavers once in three years since 1991.
In February 2022, a 15% wage hike was agreed upon as per the talks held between master and power loom weavers in the presence of collectors of Coimbatore and Tiruppur. However, a few months later, master weavers allegedly stopped crediting the revised wages.
Subsequently, power loom weavers started an indefinite strike on March 19 demanding the agreed-upon wages. As there was no consensus, power loom weavers went on a hunger strike at Somanur in Coimbatore on April 11.