Change in pay scales draws flak

The legislation also aims to impose certain financial obligations on owners, and will be tailored along the lines of the Mathadi Kamgar Act.

A three-member team, comprising Abdul Salam Azmi, general secretary of the Powerloom Workers Association, Bhiwandi; Dilip Gokani, president of the Powerloom Association, Bhiwandi; and Rajan Malabari, secretary of the Powerloom Owners’ Association, recently wrote to Chief Minister Manohar Joshi urging him to stall the bill. Also, Bhiwandi’s powerloomindustry witnessed a shutdown on Saturday in protest.

Bhiwandi, Asia’s largest powerloom centre, alone accounts for about seven lakh looms, which employ nearly 105 lakh workers. There are around 12 lakh loom owners and 180 lakh workers in the state’s four powerloom centres.

The key recommendations of the labour commissioner, who was asked by the labour department to prepare a report in August 1996, are as follows:

Loom owners and workers say the recommendations ignore ground realities. They claim the new bill would sound the death-knell of the powerloom industry, which is already sustaining crippling losses.

As loom owners incur frequent losses, the new arrangementwouldn’t work, they point out. The price of weaving threads is not stagnant, and it adds to losses. But the report hasn’t considered this, they feel.

The three-member team has instead submitted its own proposals, which are as follows:

2) For bonus and medical facilities, owners should pay Rs 5,000 per worker per year to a corresponding contribution of Rs 70 by workers.

3) Payment of compensation in full for accident benefits against the part payment they currently contribute.

4) House rent can be paid by deducting a percentage of taxes loom owners pay to the government.