Arvind’s workers strike ends

Fearing termination, the more than three-week-old strike by textile workers in Gujarat

has ended. It happened after textile companies agreed to take back the sacked workers. More than 6,000 labourers resumed work on Saturday post talks between them and the mills. Arvind has issued a statement saying that 50 workers along with the Textile Labour Association (TLA) – also known as Majoor Mahajan Sangh – had met the company’s management including CFO, Jayesh Shah. In the meeting, the workers requested that the company should take back those who had been terminated during the strike. “Arvind’s management has agreed to take workers back from tonight (Friday evening) itself. TLA brought 50 representatives of Arvind as well Ankur Mill’s striking workers to meet the management. These representatives have requested the management to take back all the terminated workers and they would all like to come back to work unconditionally,” said the statement issued by Arvind.

On June 4, 2012, a group of 300 workers from denim maker Arvind’s Naroda plant went on strike demanding a 40 per cent wage hike. What followed was a kind of chain effect, with another 4,000 workers from Ankur, Ashima and Asarwa textiles joining them. Arvind and Ashima sacked around 400 workers. Then workers asked for an interim relief of Rs 1,600 per month till the wage hike issue is resolved. While the sacked workers are back on duty, no decision on the interim relief or wage hike has been taken.

The production at the textiles mills where workers had stopped work was badly affected and the mills had to bear heavy losses. But now that the issue is resolved for the time being, production has become normal.