NTC employees open gruel centre

Seeking to highlight their plight, striking employees of the National Textile Corporation (NTC) here and their family members today opened a gruel centre in the city, claiming that delay in implementing the wage revision settlement was affecting their livelihood.
The NTC workers across Tamil Nadu were on strike for the last 17 days, seeking immediate disbursement of arrears in full for one year, after the wage revision, while the management agreed to give only six months' arrears.
The conciliatory talks the leaders of recognised unions held with Union Textile Minister, K Sambasiva Rao in Delhi yesterday, also failed to break the deadlock, NTC employees union sources said.

To highlight their plight, the workers opened the temporary centre, where rice gruel was distributed to the staff and their families, symbolising their were living in penury, they said.