Workers at Ahmedabad-based textile conglomerate Arvind Ltd's wovens and knits division at Santej Complex called off their three-day-long strike on Sunday.
Demanding wage and bonus revision, several workers had announced strike late Thursday night at the plant which saw about 6,000-7,000 workers refraining from work. The strike, termed "illegal" by the company, was called off post intervention by Gujarat government's labour department officials.
"The agitation by some of our workers at the wovens and knits division at Santej Complex has been called off. All the workers have unconditionally joined the work and the plant is operating normally," the company stated in an official communiqué.
Apart from making woven fabric with an installed capacity of 132 million meters per annum and knits fabrics with capacity of 10,000 tonnes, the Santej complex also has a denim making facility with capacity of approx 20 million meters per annum. The complex has over 11,000 workers.
According to labour department sources, the workers' demands were unjustified and violated the terms and agreements that Majoor Mahajan, the organisation representing the workers had agreed upon with the company in mid 2012. Apparently, Majoor Mahajan too had termed the strike 'illegal'.
"The company has already signed a wage settlement agreement with the workers for the period of 2012 to 2018, under which the workers have been receiving benefits by the company. Resultantly, the Bombay Industrial Resolution Act, 1946 restricts them from striking work given the settlement in force. Hence, the sudden demand for another wage revision was unjustified," said a senior labour department official.
The official added that the decision to call off the strike was taken by the workers after their discussion with labour department officials and company officials on Saturday that lasted eight hours.
