Mill workers’ suspensions revoked

The mill management had earlier claimed the workers had gone on strike and the mill gates had not been closed. In the meeting between Sheikh and union members, the minister said officers of the Labour Commission found the management’s claim to be false. “We know for a fact that workers did go to the mill on the Monday and had signed the musters too,” Sheikh said.

“The management has been creating problems for us for quite sometime,” Datta Iswalkar, secretary, Girni Kamgar Sangharsh Samiti, said. He said the present problem began with the management wanting to reduce the number of workers assigned to work on a machine. When four workers protested against the move, the management chargesheeted them and closed the gate of the mill after two days. After that, a notice was put up saying the workers would have to sign an undertaking that they wouldn’t create trouble. Only those who signed the agreement would be allowed to enter the mill premises, the notice stated. The workers declined to sign it and asked the Labour Minister to intervene. The Phoenix Mill management has been asked to withdraw the chargesheet, and workers will also not have to sign the undertaking.