Jute mill owners warn of closures

Jute mills in West Bengal were in no position to settle the outstanding dues and demands of workers all all mills had been severely hit by duty-free import of jute from Bangladesh.

As a result, labour unrest in the mills was likely to aggravate in the coming months. Most jute mills in West Bengal were losing money and it was unlikely that demands of labour unions regarding settlement of dues would addressed in the coming months, said Sanjay Kajaria, chairman of the Indian Jute Mills Association (IJMA).

"It is likely that many jute mills will shut their operations in the coming months," he warned. A meeting held on this issue on March 11 between jute mill owners and labour unions was decribed as being "inconclusive and chaotic" while there was also lack of consensus between jute mill unions.

"There was hardly any major jute mill owner at the meeting", he said. "The jute industry is heading for a crisis and annual mill losses can run up to Rs 1,000 crore if the duty-free imports continue. In such a situation, it is difficult for the jute mills to address the demands of mill workers", he added.

At the meeting, Bengal Chatkal Majdoor Union (BCMU) asked mill owners to pay dearness allowance (DA) pending since last month, irrespective of the earlier dues, but other unions did not agree to the proposal.

According to Govinda Guha of BCMU, "No significant decision regarding the settlement of the outstanding dues was taken in the meeting. We have put forward some other demands like increase in the number of yearly holidays from 10 to 11."

The next meeting between the mill owners and workers was scheduled for April.

According to last year's tripartite wage settlement, 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 was 330 points but it was yet to be paid by mill owners. "We are not demanding any fresh hike in DA, but we settlement of outstanding dues of 12,000 mill workers," Guha said.