Thousands of employees of spinning mills in and around Ahmedabad have gone on a strike from Friday, demanding that minimum wages be paid to them. Most of these spinning mill workers, who were earlier employed with textile mills which are now closed, are demanding that they be given benefits according to the law. | |
| A large number of spinning mill workers, led by Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) general secretary Girish Parmar, held a protest rally which passed through various parts of the city and ended at the office of the labour commissioner, where a memorandum was submitted to the authorities. |
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| Demanding that inspectors of the department carry out inspection of spinning factories in Ahmedabad, the workers stated that most of them are paid Rs 50 in cash at the end of the day and no records of them being employed are maintained. |
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| A delegation of workers, under the banner of Spinning Mill Kamdar Ekta Samiti, has demanded that workers be given identity cards, a record of their attendance must be maintained and they should be given minimum wages according to the law. |
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| "The minimum wage that a spinning mill worker must get is Rs 88.50 per day. Owners of spinning mills continue to exploit workers, paying them just Rs 50 and maintaining no records. We have asked the labour commissionerate to look into the matter. Until then, workers will not join duty. In fact, most units are closed from today," Girish Parmar said. |
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| There are between 5,000 and 7,000 spinning mills in and around Ahmedabad alone, with close to 1.50 lakh persons employed in these mills. |
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| Parmar said that labour commissionerate officials stated that they had not received complaints regarding malpractices. |
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| "But the labour department officials need to take action on their own, as employees who complain in writing will be sacked the next day," Parmar said. |
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| Spinning is the process involved in converting cotton to yarn and even as most integrated textile mills have shut down over the past couple of decades, the spinning and ginning mills continue to function. Large textile mills generally outsource their spinning requirements to these units in order to cut costs. |
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