Labourers employed in the hosiery knitwear units in Tiruppur have demanded the withdrawal of the minimum wages notification issued by the Tamil Nadu government in February.
According to the trade unions, the draft notification issued in February 2024 recommended basic wages of ₹8,090 and Dearness Allowance of ₹28 for every point about 160 points. However, the final notification says the DA will be ₹23.19 for every point about 196 points.
The government has not taken into account the suggestions given by trade unions and the minimum wages recommended are not adequate. The garment industry in Tiruppur employs almost six lakh workers. Wages for the “hosiery knitwear” segment should be calculated on a scientific basis. There are three guidelines from various recommendations in the past that the government should have followed, the unions say.
It was resolved at a recent meeting of trade unions in Tiruppur to take up the issue with the government. Depending on the response, the unions will decide the future course of action, they added.
When the minimum wages were revised in 2014, a group of garment manufacturers went to court. In 2018, the government took a minimum wages notification issued almost five decades earlier and revised it. The minimum wages thus decided were less than the wages that the workers were getting based on an agreement between the industry and the trade unions, claimed trade union sources in Tiruppur.
In 2024, the State government issued a draft minimum wages notification and the final notification was issued in February this year. If the wages are calculated on a scientific basis, a worker should get almost ₹33,000 a month, the sources said.
Published – March 20, 2025 09:16 pm IST
