Ambattur Unit Workers Look To State For Succour

Workers at Dunlops Ambattur unit are in a quandary.

With the West Bengal government announcing that it will temporarily take management control of the Sahaganj unit of the company and with no mention of the fate of the Chennai unit, frantic efforts were

being made by the labour leaders here to meet with top government officials and find out the governments view on the matter.

A meeting has been fixed for today with both the labour minister, Rehman Khan, and the chief minister M Karunanidhi.

Even legal and labour law experts say the situation is almost without precedent and believe the Tamil Nadu government will have to make an announcement, forced as it is by the West Bengal governments move.

The workers union had a brief meeting with the chief minister yesterday morning and has submitted a petition highlighting the workers plight and seeking a quick government-initiated solution.

We are hopeful of the state government making an announcement on the lines of that made by the West Bengal government, a top union source said.

Among the issues raised before the state chief minister are -

lThe total lack of action by the registrar of societies on the issue of the Rs 85 lakh due from the management. For repayment of loans taken from the society, the company deducts from the monthly pay cheques of the employees.

The money, although deducted from the workers salaries, has reportedly not gone to the society . This has also prevented the workers from availing of more loans.

lSimilarly, the company has a death and retirement benevolent fund towards which each worker contributes Rs 75 from his monthly salary. On the retirement or in case

of death, the workers or the next of kin gets a little over Rs 20,000.

According to union sources, money aggregating Rs 10 lakh on this account has not been credited to the fund.

Such details of alleged mismanagement apart, the basic plea of workers meeting the chief minister today is to follow the lead shown by the West Bengal government.