Surat textile processors agree to 3-day forced layoff

Faced with extreme recession and rising costs, the textile processing houses of Surat have decided to observe a 3-day closure every week. A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of South Gujarat Processors Association (SGPA) on Wednesday evening.

Jitu Vakharia, vice-president, SGPA, said, "The processing industry is passing through a very bad phase. There is very little supply of grey cloth for processing resulting in most of the processing units operating at just around 50 per cent capacity for some time now."

"Many of the processing units were observing two-three days closure in a week, but this was not helping the situation. We held zone-wise meetings in various industrial estates, in which the processing unit owners expressed grave concern at the situation," he said.

"We were contemplating announcing a mini vacation of seven or ten days, but some of the processors suggested that a collective closure would be a better idea. After a lot of deliberations, we have decided that all the processing units in Surat would work only for four days in a week," he said.

"All the processing units would observe a closure for three days. This would include the day of power staggering in the respective industrial area, the day before, as well as the day after the staggering," he said.

"This decision would be in effect till March 15. Another meeting, to review the situation, and decide whether the three-day closure announcement should be continued or not will be held later," he added.

According to the processors, the collective closure would lead to a cut in production, which would help in improve the overall situation in the processing industry. The closure would help cut costs and also help stabilise the supply and demand chain, processors feel.

It is worth mentioning here that there are around 425 processing units in Surat, of which, only around 350 units are operational. Since many months, the processors have been plagued with a rise in prices of dyes, chemicals and other raw material. The processors hiked the job charges around three months back, but due to the recession, the hike has not helped them.