Workers stage protest demanding reopening of NTC mills in city

Coimbatore: Workers of the five National Textile Corporation (NTC) mills in the city staged a protest on Thursday and urged the Union government to reopen the mills.NTC employs around 3,000 workers, including 1,800 permanent workers, at Pioneer Mill at Ramanathapuram district, Kaleeswara Mill at Sivaganga district and five mills in Coimbatore city – Coimbatore Spinning and Weaving Mill, Sree Murugan Textiles, Cambodia Mill, Sree Ranga Vilas Textiles and Pankaja Mill.The mill management closed the mills in March 2020. The workers were given 50% wages during the pandemic, but were not given any in the last seven months.A section of workers gathered in front of Pankaja Mill at Ramanathapuram and prepared rice porridge to mark their protest against the management.District vice-president of Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) Rajendran said that due to Covid-19, the mills were closed on March 24, 2020. “We have been putting pressure on the Union government to open the mills. But our effort went in vain. The NTC management did not provide salary to the workers for the last seven months and failed to provide the gratuity for the last two years,” he said. “The union will intensify the protest if the management fails to meet the demands of the workers.”Several protests were conducted to save NTC mills, Anna Thozhirsanga Peravai state secretary Gopal said. “The management has stopped deduction towards provident fund from salary. We are planning to conduct protests with family members to fill jails soon.”