Jute meeting on March 11

The tripartite meeting held today between jute mill workers, owners and the West Bengal labour commissioner was largely inconclusive. The next meeting is slated to be held on March 11.

The mill owners expressed their inability to pay the dearness allowance (DA) demanded by the workers, as it did not match their productivity, industry sources said.

However, there is no immediate threat of a strike again in jute mills, confirmed jute mill owners and workers' union. Another demand of the mill workers-- the settlement of pending bonus of about 12,000 mill workers across West Bengal""was partly resolved, said members of trade unions.

According to Govinda Guha, general secretary of the Bengal Chatkal Majdoor Union, the labour commissioner has asked the mill owners to settle the bonus issue at the earliest.

"The allegation that the productivity is not at par with the wages is bogus, as last year the production of B-twill bags and gunny bags was satisfactory at 16 lakh tonnes. The mill owners are further saying that Bangladesh has increased the import duty, which affected the profit margins. In that case, we want the mill owners to pay the wages pending January 1, 2008, when the import duties were raised," Guha said.

According to last year's tripartite wage settlement, the domestic jute mills were required to pay DA on the basis of the cost of living index increase or decrease.

According to Guha, the DA hike calculated over the last hike at 330 points, is yet to be implemented by the jute owners. "We are not demanding any fresh hike in DA, but all we want is the settlement of the old dues," Guha said.

According to Ghanshyam Sarda of the Sarda Group, "Last time the demands of the mill workers was accepted. The fresh demand of the workers is not conducive for the industry."